Darkman's Rise to Hero
by Hellbat Schilt
Summary: Delayed by his creator's anger, he rises in the post-ZXA period. Can he save those that he learns to love? Can he and his group save themselves from the resurrected Robot Masters?
1. Introduction

**Introduction to Darkman's Rise to Hero**

_**What do you do? You're old, your creator died from old age, your adversary's dead, you're waiting... just waiting to be woken up... When do you wake up? **_

_**When the time is right... I guess... **_

_**Don't interrupt me. Bah, it doesn't matter. What're you going to do?**_

_**I'm not sure... lemme figure it out, okay? Just stop bothering me.**_

_**You still need to fulfil your design.**_

_**What design?**_

_**... Don't be rebellious like Zero...**_

_**Listen, Doc, I just wanna live my life. I'm tired. I'm sick of that blue bomber. I've already died trying to fulfil your plans, but that didn't work out so well, did it?**_

_**YOU BELONG TO ME!**_

_**... I don't belong to anyone... I am Darkman. You can't tie me down.**_

_**Just for that, I'll up the date when you awake!**_

_**Oh, really? And what if Zero doesn't make it?**_

_**He will! He's crazy enough to! He tried to attack me during creation! That's why I installed that protective device. If he stays in battle too long, his head will hurt and a "W" will appear on his crystal, but that's overridden now.**_

_**Oh, really? I've known you to be absent-minded at times. I bet you that it's still active.**_

_**... Go to sleep, Darkman.**_

_**I try to, but you keep on yammering on.**_


	2. Mekanikku

**This chapter was changed slightly due to later alterations. Mekanikku is no longer a reploid but a human. Sorry for anyone that has already read this chapter. And yes. Blond is probably my favorite hair color for female anime characters. I typically envision most of them with blond hair.**

* * *

Darkman looked around himself at the crowd, his red shirt fluttering slightly in the cool morning breeze. It felt so good to be out of that pod. Apparently Zero had failed to take world domination. If he didn't fail, this probably wasn't what Dr. Wily was wanting it to be like.

Darkman tugged nervously at the belt that was around his red jeans. What to do now? This was a lot more different from the world that he knew. For one, the humans had robotic parts and the robots had little upside-down triangles on their foreheads. Was this just a fad? Darkman shrugged and walked through the crowd, keeping his sunglasses over his eyes.

What in the world was he going to do? Simple civilian life didn't apply to him at the moment. He'd have to learn about it and adapt.

"Whoop! Excuse me!" a blond-haired girl said as she bumped into Darkman's shoulder and dumped her books on the ground. "I didn't see you there."

Darkman stooped down and helped her pick up her books. This is what people do, right? "I'll say you didn't. Don't you know to be careful?"

"Sorry..." The girl flushed slightly as she looked up at him. "I'm a little absent minded at times. I like to go into my own world a little bit... okay, well, a lot."

Darkman handed her the rest of her books, his face lacking emotion. "Just be careful. What are all the books for?"

"These?" the girl asked. "They're for school."

"Why does anyone need to go to school?" Darkman asked.

The girl shrugged. "Seriously, I think they're trying to kill us." Darkman's fists clenched. "Not in that way," the girl said, giggling. "It's just that they try to stuff sooo much information in our heads at one time."

"And no one revolts?" Darkman asked.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Um, no? It's not like we're at war or anything. It's just that that's the way it is."

Darkman scoffed. "All right," he said as he turned and started to walk away.

"H-hey!" the girl exclaimed and Darkman turned around. "Thank you for, um, helping me with my books," the girl said, jostling the books a little bit.

"No problem," Darkman said as he turned away.

Wow... that was a failure. His one chance to learn about the society and he blew it. Eh, there would be more chances.

He wandered around the streets, trying to memorize as much of it as he could. Was there anything to do around here? It seemed like everything costed money. Money which he didn't have. He growled and walked into a nearby alley. He shoved his hands into his pockets and sulked as he walked down the alley, stopping at a dead end.

"Stop right there, punk."

Darkman spun around, grabbing the pistol that was on his back and fired at the stranger, the blasts hitting it harmlessly.

"Why didn't that hurt you?" Darkman asked as he analyzed the stranger. He seemed vaguely familiar.

The stranger chuckled. "You've never messed with the most powerful reploid around, have you?"

The voice. That's what betrayed him.

"Bass?" Darkman said.

The stranger chuckled and snapped his fingers. More things came out from the alley, wielding crude weapons. Whether they were human or robots, it didn't matter. Darkman had some tricks up his sleeve.

"Finish him," the stranger said as he turned around. "He's not worth my time."

The thugs converged on Darkman, slowly.

"You wanna dance?" Darkman asked.

A giggle escaped one of the thugs. "He's kinda cute, you know."

"What? Whatever."

"THEN COME AND DANCE WITH ME!" Darkman yelled as he flung himself into the thugs.

A small compartment came out from his right arm and a blade sprung to life, facing backwards mostly. Only a small bit of it reached out halfway up his hand.

He moved around the thugs, dealing quick jabs with the forward facing end by moving his hand out of the way and finishing them off and others around him by spinning to get them with the longer end of the blade. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a chain flying at him. He lunged and flung his arm up to block the chain at the person's hand. The chain wrapped around him, making the thug grin. Darkman kicked a thug away from behind him and shoved a knife away that the thug in front of him was bringing down.

"Do you think you have me?" Darkman said as he pulled the chain from the thug's grasp. "Wrong."

He jumped over the thug, letting its ally take it out for him with a few blasts of the ally's gun. During that brief period, Darkman mostly unwrapped the chain from his arm. He spun around as the thug dropped to the ground and the chain wrapped itself around the gunner's neck after flying through the air. Darkman leapt into the air, a cruel snarl on his face as he brought his foot down into the person's stomach. He thrust the blade into the thug and finished him off. Slowly, he stood up, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"You ready for this?" he asked the last thug. Another girl. He grinned and walked towards her as her frame trembled.

"Please. Don't kill me. I was just doing my job! It was that Bass guy!" she pleaded.

Darkman snarled. "Then follow me. I assume you know about society?"

The girl gulped. "Y-yes? J-just don't k-kill me."

"Not yet," Darkman said. He stopped and looked back at her. "You... You're the girl that dropped her books, aren't you?"

The girl nodded and dropped to her knees, covering her face with her hands as her sobs came out.

"What're you doing here?" Darkman asked, deactivating his weapon and kneeling next to her. "Why were you with Bass?"

"H-he threatened m-my family," the girl said.

"He considers you or your family a threat," Darkman said. "What can your family do?"

"N-nothing," the girl sobbed. "Absolutely nothing. We-we're mechanics, not w-warriors."

Darkman nodded. "Come with me, all right? Don't be afraid."

He got up and extended his hand, the girl looking hesitantly up at him.

"C-can I trust you?" she asked as her hand partially reached out.

"It's either me or Bass. Take your pick," Darkman said. "If you take my hand, you're on my side."

The girl looked at his hand, then at him, then back at his hand. Slowly she took it and his hand grasped tightly around hers.

"Come with me," Darkman said as he led her quickly through the streets, pushing people out of his way. "You got money?"

"I've got a home," the girl said. "Family."

"No good. Bass will find you there. I don't know if I can fight Bass."

"He'll kill them!" the girl said.

"Then relocate. Bass can't know where you go," Darkman said. "Seriously, I can't see why you don't just leave them."

"If that's the monster you are, then let go!" the girl said as she tried to wrench herself from his grasp, gasping and flinching as his grip tightened and he pressed on a pressure point.

"Don't move," Darkman said.

"Why not?" the girl growled, her efforts intensifying.

"Then dive!" Darkman said as he pulled the girl close to him and dove to the side.

Explosions blew out the ground that they were standing on and Darkman jumped to his feet.

"You okay?" he asked as he pulled her up.

"Yep," the girl said, somewhat frustrated.

"Then let's go!" Darkman said as he broke into a run, dragging the girl behind him.

More explosions hit the ground behind them, the crowds of the street running to get out of the way.

"To the side!" Darkman shouted as he spun around to shift directions, the girl imitating his action. "Dive and roll!"

They dove as explosions hit the ground that would have been on them without Darkman's warning. They rolled back to their feet and kept running. Pain suddenly raced through Darkman's leg and he collapsed with a shout of pain.

"Sniper," he groaned.

"Get up!" the girl shouted as she stopped and pulled him back to his feet. "We need cover."

"Lead on," Darkman said.

The girl nodded and supported him as he limped along, the girl shifting their acceleration randomly. Sniper shots blew into the buildings next to them as they ran.

"Why don't we just go into one of these buildings?" Darkman asked.

"Because the offices don't offer enough protection and we could harm innocents if we go into a house. We need to get out of here. Give me a second. Hide behind that car while I do something, 'k?"

"Fine," Darkman said as she let go of him.

He rolled behind a car as she hid behind a motorcycle and fiddled around with the wiring until it revved to life.

"Get on!" she yelled.

Darkman hopped on, taking a few shots at the sniper and what seemed to be Crashman as the girl jumped onto the motorcycle and hit the accelerator for all it was worth.

"Where're we going?" Darkman asked. "We're just heading deeper into the city!"

"Then watch!" the girl shouted.

She made a tight turn, the rear tire skidding as it dragged across the pavement. A shot managed to hit her in the shoulder, making her flinch, but that didn't stop her from taking off towards the outskirts. Just as they reached the outside of the city, a huge boulder slammed into the side of their motorcycle and knocked them to the ground.

Darkman struggled to get up as Gutsman loomed closer, his vision blurry.

"Gutsman," Darkman said, some fluid dripping from his mouth. Great. Some internal systems were damaged. "Thought you were dead. Deactivated."

Gutsman snorted and kicked up another boulder. "You wish."

"Give me a few seconds," the girl whispered from behind a fire hydrant as she pulled out an assortment of parts from a large pouch at her side.

Darkman jumped backwards from another boulder that crashed at his feet, knocking him over.

"Look out!" the girl yelled.

Darkman looked to the side and rolled, another explosion throwing him to the side. He got back to his feet, feeling his side, his face contorted with the pain.

"Medic," he said quietly.

Gutsman grinned and walked closer, his fist clenched, as Tomahawkman leapt down, his axe gleaming in the sun.

"Say hi to Protoman for me," Gutsman said as he drew back his fist.

Darkman readied himself to be thrown back. He would land on his feet once it happened. The girl leapt into the air, brandishing a large gun.

"DIE!" she yelled as round after round of shotgun blasts tore Gutsman's armor apart, the rounds coming fully automatic.

Darkman leapt onto Tomahawkman as Tomahawkman drew back his tomahawk. Darkman grabbed Tomahawkman's neck and spun around in the air, finishing Tomahawkman quickly as Gutsman tumbled to the ground.

"Hide!" the girl yelled as she dove into some cover.

Darkman jumped behind a car as more explosions rocked the ground behind him and shurikens flew overhead.

"Shadowman," he growled as he pulled out his pistol.

He reached up as Shadowman jumped overhead and flung him to the ground, blasting the ground with his pistol as Shadowman rolled away and got back up, a flurry of shurikens digging themselves into Darkman.

"_**Overdrive activated"**_ were the words that ran across Darkman's vision.

Darkman slid past Shadowman, cutting through him with a dagger. As Shadowman spun around, Darkman jumped over, grabbing Shadowman's head and slamming him back into the ground. Another compartment opened in Darkman's back and missile launchers emerged, setting themselves above his shoulders, a crosshair appearing over one eye as he initiated a lock on another robot master. Quickman. He launched a couple of missiles as soon as it locked and turned his attention back to Shadowman, finishing him off with a quick thrust of his arm-blade.

"Girl! Let's go!" he yelled as another compartment opened out of his other arm.

He unleashed a volley of chaingun rounds at Quickman and started to run out of the city, grabbing the girl on his way out. Treads emerged on the bottom of his feet and he sped up, throwing a handful of mines behind him. Just in time. Napalmman spun around the corner and was engulfed in the explosion of the mines. Nothing to kill him, but it was good to cripple him.

"That was sweet," Darkman said as they entered an cavern. "If I didn't take too much damage, I'd say that I want to do that again." He grimaced. "Any chance that you can fix me, ordinary-mechanic-that-isn't-a-threat?"

The girl laughed nervously. "Okay, so I guess that wasn't quite all true."

"Well, you blew your cover pretty quick," Darkman said as all of his weapons went back into their compartments and he dropped to the ground, leaning against a stalactite. "You have a name?"

"Mekanikku," the girl said as she pulled the shurikens out from Darkman. "Mekanikku Heiki. Yours?"

"Darkman," he said, grimacing as Mekanikku pulled out another shuriken and some rocks that had dug themselves into him from Gutsman's boulder.

"Like _the_ Darkman?" Mekanikku asked.

Darkman mentally raised an eyebrow. No fear in her. Just surprise.

"Yes. I'm him."

"And yet you're fighting against Bass's gang?" Mekanikku said.

"I don't belong to Wily. I don't belong to anyone," Darkman said. "I'm my own guy now."

Mekanikku applied a thick solution over Darkman's armor that soon stiffened into a complete armor.

"That's interesting stuff," Darkman said. "It's impressive."

"I used to be a medic in the army. I know how to make this stuff and I know how to use it," Mekanikku explained.

"You look like a seventeen year old," Darkman said flatly. "Why would you be in school after the army?"

Mekanikku shrugged. "Not quite sure," she said as she leaned against a rock. "I think it was to help me cope with life outside of the military. You can't stay in the military without taking some kind of mental trauma."

Darkman nodded. "I thought only humans had to deal with that."

Mekanikku shook her head. "Maybe the combat robots can stand it because that's what they're built for, but I was just an ordinary civilian."

"So how long were you in the military?" Darkman asked.

"About eight years," Mekanikku said. "I've been alive for about eighteen."

Darkman nodded as he wiped his forehead. "So what's with the triangle on the foreheads of some of the other people that I've seen?"

"Oh, those?" Mekanikku said. "It's an indicator that they're a reploid."

"Reploid?"

"Umm... So you know Zero?" Mekanikku said. Darkman nodded. "He was a reploid. An intelligent robot that doesn't need to take orders. Reploids have become more advanced, making the Maverick Virus ineffective."

"Maverick Virus?" Darkman asked.

Mekanikku giggled. "You have a lot to learn about modern technology, don't you?"

Darkman grinned. "Apparently. What year is this?"

"27XX," Mekanikku replied. "Anyway, the Maverick Virus would cause reploids to go maverick. Maverick means that they try to kill humans."

"So now robots don't try to kill humans?" Darkman said, looking confusedly at her with a slightly accusing look.

"No. Reploids have free will," Mekanikku corrected. "If they really wanted to, they could kill someone. Reploids are more identical to humans now, emotion-wise and intelligence-wise."

Darkman nodded slowly. "I'll try to remember that."

He got up and looked around the cavern, light becoming scarce as the cavern dug deeper into the ground.

"Where do you suppose this goes?" Darkman asked.

"I don't know, but without a light, we might die," Mekanikku said. "But... Well, uh..."

"But what?" Darkman said as he turned back to her.

"I need to check on my family," Mekanikku said dismally. "Thank you for getting me out of there, though. I just can't leave my family with Bass and his gang of the Reploid Masters."

Darkman nodded coldly. "Go. I'm not going to get myself killed over someone else's family."

Mekanikku's mouth opened slightly, but she quickly closed it and started to walk away, out of the cavern.


	3. The Old Returns!

"No... No..." Mekanikku whispered as she knelt down next to her little brother and cradled him in her arms. "Please... no..."

"This is what happens when you try to resist those that have withstood the trials of time."

"Get out! Now!" Mekanikku yelled as she pointed her shotgun at Bass's chest, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

Bass chuckled as he shoved the shotgun barrel away. "You know you can't kill me. It's impossible. The evolution within me is complete. It's a shame that it didn't happen earlier since I could've defeated that blue wimp."

Mekanikku's hand dropped limply to her side, the gun clattering to the floor, her face overcome with despair.

"Excuse me."

Darkman ducked as Bass's arm flew overhead and he jabbed his hand into Bass's gut, wincing as it impacted.

"Darkman, didn't think you'd show!" Bass said as he kicked Darkman away. "Now it's going to be a party!"

"And you're going to lose!" Mekanikku yelled as she grabbed Bass's arm and flung him over her shoulder.

Bass landed on his feet and immediately kicked Mekanikku to the side, a dark purple flame growing in his eyes as Darkman got back to his feet.

"Is that all you got?" Bass sneered.

"Dunno. You?" Darkman retorted.

Bass grabbed Darkman's collar in an instant and threw him backwards into the house's sink, dishes breaking as he collided.

"You too scared to fight me?" Mekanikku challenged as Darkman pulled himself out of the sink.

Bass chuckled and walked over towards Mekanikku, shoving Darkman away as Darkman tried to hit him.

"What, no fear?" Bass smirked.

Mekanikku lashed out, trying to grab Bass's cloak, but Bass quickly grabbed her arm and twisted it around her back.

"Thanks," Mekanikku said as she pulled the trigger of a gun in her other hand.

Blue electricity crackled over Bass, his eyes wide open for a second before he collapsed on the ground.

"What was that?" Darkman said as he grabbed Mekanikku and started to walk away with her.

"EMP. It overloads circuitry," Mekanikku explained.

"And now it's useless!" Bass yelled as he grabbed Mekanikku's leg and yanked Mekanikku out of Darkman's grasp.

"Mekanikku!" Darkman yelled as he leapt on top of Bass, Bass bringing his legs up at the last second to plant them under Darkman's stomach and threw him off.

"I'm getting bored with this," Bass said as he pulled Mekanikku to her feet.

"And I'm getting sick of you!" Darkman yelled as he spun around, his fist swinging towards Bass's head.

Bass dropped Mekanikku and brought his arm up to block Darkman's fist, throwing a punch at Darkman's face. Darkman stepped to the side and spun around Bass, bringing his own leg behind Bass's. He grabbed Bass's arm and flung him to the ground, using his leg to throw off Bass's balance. He brought out his arm-blade and thrust it at Bass, his missile launchers reemerging. Bass grabbed Darkman's fist and slowly began pushing Darkman back as sweat formed on Darkman's forehead.

"Mekanikku! Just get out of here! Don't worry about me! I can handle this!" Darkman yelled.

"We'll see about that!" Bass yelled as he threw Darkman away.

Mekanikku stood in the threshold of the doorway, looking on the fight as Darkman flung himself back at Bass, indecisive about whether to go or help Darkman.

"Mekanikku! Just go!" Darkman yelled desperately as he blocked one of Bass's pink swords, jumping away as the other one grazed him. "I'll catch up! Just trust me!"

Mekanikku stayed frozen in the doorway. Darkman groaned and unleashed a round of his chaingun into Bass before running over and pushing Mekanikku out and closing the door. Mekanikku stood up slowly, a little dazed by what was happening.

"Don't die, Darkman," she said as she ran toward a main street.

As she made her way there, she was slightly aware of something bounding its way towards her, using the buildings as something to jump from. She pulled out her shotgun and spun around, firing a few volleys as Slashman landed on top of her, his lips curled into a smirk as the shotgun was flung from her grasp.

"Lord Bass knew that you'd try to escape if Darkman helped you," he said as he forced Mekanikku's chin up with the edge of his claw. "It's a shame, really, that I have to kill you. You're kinda pretty."

"Then maybe you could join us," Mekanikku said, the claw limiting the movement of her jaw. "You wouldn't hurt something so pretty, would you?"

Slashman sneered and chuckled. "I said _kinda_ pretty."

His claws lifted into the air and slammed into the ground, cutting into her cheek slightly. Mekanikku watched as he was slowly lifted into the air and thrown to the side by a teenager clad in a grey shirt and pants, a red belt across his pants. The teenager ran his hand through his black hair as he sheathed his saber.

"Saving people's bacon, one person at a time," he said with a grin as he extended his hand to help Mekanikku up.

"Darkman?" Mekanikku asked, noting the sunglasses, as the stranger helped her up.

"Darkman?" The boy chuckled. "If he's gone and impersonated me again... well, you know what happened last time."

Mekanikku's mouth gaped open. "Protoman?" she half-squealed.

The teenager burst out laughing and said, "I guess I forgot my scarf. I better go get that before anyone else gets confused."

"Eh? Oh, look what Slashman failed to get!" Geminiman exclaimed as he hopped down from an adjacent building.

"Yeah! Does this mean we get him?" his copy asked.

"Ah, you two. Or one. Doesn't really matter, does it?" Protoman said.

"Quiet, kid! We're going to blow lasers through you really well! Isn't that right, double?"

"That's right!"

"Oh, really?" Protoman grinned. "Say hello to MR. SNAKEY!"

Protoman quickly pulled out a snake and held it in front of the two, making the copy jump into Geminiman's arms.

"Save me!" it screamed.

"S-s-s-snake!" Geminiman yelled as he ran away.

Protoman burst out laughing as Mekanikku walked up closer to the snake.

"It's fake," she said, chuckling a little herself.

"Yep," Protoman said as he stuffed it in his pocket. "Knew that would come in handy!"

"But I'm not so easily fooled!"

Protoman and Mekanikku raised their guns as Enker landed in front of them, his spear raised defensively.

"Enker. Thought you died back then. Then again, I didn't really expect to see Geminiman or Slashman here either," Protoman said.

"So, Darkman, you turned against us, didn't you?" Enker growled as he drew himself up to his full height.

"I'm Protoman! Is Darkman running around again?" Protoman exclaimed.

"Darkman's dealing with Bass," Mekanikku whispered.

Protoman blinked and continued, "Never mind what I just said! My name matters, though."

"What're you doing without your scarf?" Enker asked.

"Left it at home with the lil' bro," Protoman said as he charged his gun that looked like a sub-machine gun. "Now hold still."

Enker leapt through the air and rammed his spear into the ground as Protoman and Mekanikku bolted out of the way. He lifted it out of the ground and spun it around as Protoman's charged blast impacted into it, not flinching in the least.

"Thanks," Enker said, grinning darkly as his form started to glow.

"Then eat this!" Protoman yelled as he drew his saber and swung it rapidly at Enker.

Enker easily blocked the saber and cut Protoman across the bridge of his nose with a flourish. Protoman stumbled backwards and grinned as he raised his buster.

"Whatever you do, you're dead," Protoman said as he charged his gun.

"No, you are!" Enker yelled as he leapt through the air towards Protoman.

Enker gasped as shotgun blasts ripped through his back armor and he hit the ground hard on his feet, supporting himself with his spear.

"It's guys like you that I don't like," Protoman said as he let go of the trigger on his gun.

Enker was thrown into another building by the blast and lay limply on the ground, a large hole in his chest.

"Where's Darkman? Sounds like he's changed his ways," Protoman said.

"In that house," Mekanikku said as she pointed to her house. "He's fighting Bass, but Bass seems to be unstoppable."

"If it's Bass, he's stoppable," Protoman said as he started to run towards the house.

"No! You don't understand! Nothing affects him! Even an EMP shot! Don't fight with him!" Mekanikku pleaded.

Protoman grinned. "I don't need to fight him."

He threw the door open as Bass punched Darkman into a wall. Darkman's sunglasses were cracked, revealing the red eyes that were behind them. A lot of his armor was broken into pieces, and his arm was hanging limply at his side. Bass snapped his gaze over to Protoman and tsked.

"Really? Have all of the originals come back from the past to arrive in this era?" Bass said.

"Most likely," Protoman said as he walked in and helped himself into a chair as Mekanikku poked her head into the room. "Please. Sit down."

Bass scoffed and took a chair across the table from Protoman. "You know I could defeat you in an instant."

"I wasn't going to fight you. I just wanted to talk," Protoman said with a shrug.

Bass slammed his fist into the table and stood up, grabbing Protoman's collar.

"Listen, Blues, you never confront people like this. You never talk. You've got something up your sleeve, I know it," Bass growled.

"Whoa, whoa, cool it. Geez," Protoman said as he pried Bass's fingers from his collar. "Anyway... if you suspect me of doing something, you're right."

A bright flash of light enveloped the room and Mekanikku backed away from the door, her vision completely white.

"What in the world was that?" she muttered to herself.

"Let's go!" Protoman yelled as he picked Mekanikku up and ran off with her.

"Protoman! What's going on?" Mekanikku demanded as her vision returned. "What'd you do to him?"

"Flash bomb. Learned it from Flashman," Protoman said as he ducked into an alley and set Darkman and her down. "Wait." He pressed a brick in and shoved Darkman into a small passage as it opened. "Get in."

Mekanikku looked at Protoman suspiciously and looked back.

"If you wanna go back there, you're on your own," Protoman said as he crawled in.

Mekanikku sighed. Life was a lot simpler just a few years ago. She reluctantly got into the small crawlspace and waited as the wall closed down again. She got the feeling that they were moving downwards and waited until light shone through.

"Follow me, please," Protoman said as he picked up Darkman and led the way out of what seemed to be the elevator.

"What was that place?" Mekanikku asked.

"Our elevator. We've got a million more like them," Protoman explained. "Get on."

Mekanikku looked over the motorcycle that was offered to her and grinned. It was something from the military. A light scout motorcycle.

"We gonna confront anything down here?" she asked as she got on and started the engine.

"Not likely, but Megaman and I built these anyway with combat capabilities," Protoman said. "Follow me carefully. Don't turn down any passages that I don't go into. Otherwise, you're bound to get fried to a crisp or blown up."

Mekanikku frowned. "May I ask why?"

"If anyone did find this place, they'd have a hard time getting to our central place of operations," Protoman explained as he and Mekanikku drove down a passage.

"I see. So how come you and Megaman are back?" she said, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"We were rebuilt by Dr. Light and put into new bodies, ones that'd adapt to time. Unfortunately, it seems like Bass has had the same thing done to him from what you've told me," Protoman said as he shifted into another passage, turning on his headlights as he pulled his helmet on.

Mekanikku nodded as she followed him. "Why didn't it happen to the other Reploid Masters?"

"I figure that Dr. Wily didn't have enough time to do them all. He probably focused on Bass. Dr. Light worked on the three of us and made us the best that he could do before he finally died. He finished Megaman X before finishing us," Protoman said grimly. "I wish I had been a better son to him..."

Mekanikku absorbed all of the new information while also thinking of a way to stop Bass.

"Is there any way to stop Bass, do you think?" she asked.

Protoman shrugged. "I'd let little bro do that. I'm just the guy that helps out, as you know."

Mekanikku nodded. "How come you never really fought Wily extensively?"

"I didn't want to attract attention to myself. I didn't want to be the one that could be relied upon to come to the scene. I didn't really want to meet up with Dr. Light either. So I'd help, but nothing more."

"Don't you feel guilty about that?" Mekanikku asked as Protoman slowed down.

"A little. Mostly just that I didn't want to confront Dr. Light. He wanted to help me, but I refused until I finally realized that my reactor was going to kill me and that he just wanted to help. It took a little bit of talking with him before I trusted him enough to work my systems."

Protoman got off of his motorcycle and opened a door, ushering Mekanikku inside. She winced slightly at the better lighting, but got used to it pretty quick.

"Proto-chan!" Megaman exclaimed, running over and giving Protoman a big hug around the waist since it seemed like Dr. Light didn't change his height.

"How've you been, lil' bro?" Protoman said as he knelt down and hugged Megaman back. "Have you been giving Roll a hard time?"

Megaman laughed, his hands on his hips. "Would I do something like that?" he asked.

Protoman chuckled and ruffled Megaman's hair as he got up. "Most likely."

Mekanikku chuckled as a disheveled Roll walked into the place.

"There you are! You have a mess to clean up!" Roll said, wielding a broom in both hands. "Especially since we have a visitor!"

"Hey Roll, have you seen my scarf?" Protoman asked.

"I think last I saw, Zero had put it back into your drawer," Roll said.

"Can I help him find it?" Megaman asked enthusiastically.

"With the mess that's in your room, I wouldn't trust you to find it," Roll laughed. "How about this. You clean up your room and I'll help you."

"Okay, Roll!" Megaman said as he dashed past her. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

"So how come Dr. Light didn't change Megaman?" Mekanikku asked as she followed Protoman into a room with few furnishings.

"I think he wanted to retain Megaman's innocence," Protoman said as he searched through his drawers. "The world needs some innocence."

Mekanikku nodded. "Darkman?" she asked, looking frantically around for him.

"He's been taken to the infirmary," Protoman said as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. "He's in good hands."

Mekanikku let out a sigh of relief. "So how many people are here, exactly?"

Protoman sat down on his bed and started to think through all of the members of the group. "Well, let me see... Vent, Aile, Grey, Ashe, Zero, Iris, Megaman, X, Axl... Now you and Darkman."

"All of those heroes?" Mekanikku said as she let herself fall into a chair.

"Yep. We've got all of them," Protoman said, grinning slightly.

Mekanikku returned the grin, only more broad. "This is going to be great! With all of these heroes, we should be able to defeat Bass!"

"We'll see about that," Protoman said, turning more serious.

"How come you doubt it?" Mekanikku asked, her smile fading away. "Even Bass couldn't handle all of them."

"To me, it seemed like you were saying that he was invincible," Protoman said blandly.

Mekanikku sighed as her arms drooped to her sides. "True..."

"The best thing we can do is plan. We'll do that once Darkman is up and running again, okay?" Protoman said as he laid his hand on her shoulder. "There is always hope."


	4. Mission

"We lost them," a police officer said as he walked into a room filled with officers at the police station.

"Unfortunate," another officer, a lieutenant, said. "Continue on with your patrol."

"Yes sir," the officer said before exiting.

"What was that all about?" another officer asked.

"Just some drug dealers. Don't worry about it," the lieutenant said as he waved it off while stirring his hot chocolate. "My men are experienced enough. They'll catch them eventually."

"The boss doesn't like escaping criminals," the officer said, the other officers muttering their agreement.

"Then maybe you should take a shot at killing Bass and his minions since you're so high and mighty," the lieutenant growled. The officer snarled. "Then leave my men alone."

"I've got a patrol to get to," the officer said as he stalked out of the room, taking other officers with him until only three were left including the lieutenant.

The lieutenant carefully looked around before setting down his cup and nodding at the remaining officers. The officers nodded and carefully removed a vent from the wall, making a small crawl-space.

"Go, go, go," one of the officers, a sergeant, whispered while the lieutenant and the other officer crawled in.

Once they were in, the sergeant promptly replaced the vent and walked out of the room, a cold, blank expression on his face. He walked through the halls and up the stairs, nodding slightly to the people he passed as he walked into a bathroom. It would be a shame... So many nice people here. He checked his surroundings to make sure no one was near before placing a small object near a wall and walking away. A quick and silent sound came from the bathroom, sounding like a quick gust of wind. Midway down the hall, the fire siren started to blare, making all the officers freeze for a second.

Time to go.

The sergeant ran through the halls toward the bathroom, other officers following him as some of them held fire extinguishers.

"Hey! Samui! Where are you going?" the officers called as the sergeant ran past the bathroom towards the roof.

"I'm not going to die in this place," Samui said silently and coldly as he broke the lock on the door to the roof and ran to the edge before jumping across into an open window of an adjacent building.

Samui stood up and stumbled as explosions rocked the building he was in. He turned around and watched as the police building crumbled to the ground.

"Good job, Samui. Rendevous at Protoman's hideout," the lieutenant said through a com.

"Will do," Samui replied as he pulled off his policeman's uniform, revealing a normal teenager's clothes underneath. It'd take time for the residents of this apartment to react. They'd be huddling in their rooms. He quickly flung the officer uniform into a large dumpster and thought about the personality he should adopt.

"Explosions, explosions!" Samui cried as he ran down the stairs to the bottom level where the manager was looking out of a window towards the demolished police station. Samui paused by the manager and looked in the same direction, his jaw gaping open. "What... just happened?"

"Someone blew it up..." the manager whispered ominously.

Samui backed away and swiftly covered the manager's mouth while choking him with his other arm.

"Sorry, mate," Samui whispered as he laid the manager on the ground.

Samui made a cut on the clerk's forehead as he placed a shard of metal next to the clerk's head and grinned. He quickly got up and ran to a nearby wall, pressing a brick in as he got there. Slowly, a section of the wall lifted and closed as Samui got in. Samui grinned to himself as the elevator lowered to the point where a scout motorcycle was visible. A sleek black bullet-bike with no known attacks to the untrained eye. Samui got on the motorcycle as he took off the layer of teenager clothes, revealing ninja attire up to his neck. He blasted through the passages, knowing which ones to take and which ones to avoid. Even if he took the wrong one, it's not like it would harm him too much.

He pulled out a ninja mask that covered half of his face as well as resting loosely over his neck and put it on while still racing through the passages. Once he put it on, he ruffled it slightly until it became a cape like a black version of Hidden Phantom's. A light started to come through and Samui slowed down as he entered into the light. He dismounted and walked into the main room where the lieutenant and the other officer waited.

"'bout time," the lieutenant said. "What took you so long?"

"I'm not that late," Samui said as he lightly pressed on his palms.

"He's right," the officer said.

"You do what I told you?" Protoman asked as he walked into the room, putting his scarf on.

"We lost him," the lieutenant said flatly with his arms crossed. "He's way too fast and way too powerful."

"I thought you said you could handle him," Protoman said accusingly. "I don't pay you for nothing."

"We tried, but Bass doesn't just turn himself in," the lieutenant said coldly.

Protoman sighed. "It's all right. We'll try again."

Samui's eyebrows furrowed and he walked casually up to the door that Protoman had entered from. Slowly, he opened it and walked into a long hallway filled with side-rooms. He looked around for a second before spinning around and grabbing Mekanikku by the arm, making her shriek.

"Listening on our conversation?" he asked coldly.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Mekanikku said, looking at him defiantly while trying to pry his fingers off.

"Very convincing. Especially trying to sneak around me while my back is turned," Samui retorted. Mekanikku muttered angrily before finally getting out of Samui's hold with a huff. "I let you go. Don't forget it," Samui said.

"I doubt you could've held me for long anyway," Mekanikku said as she stalked into the room. "Who invited that guy anyway?" she said out loud, pointing over her shoulder at Samui who was on her heels.

"He's part of our group, missy," the lieutenant said.

"Seriously?" she asked, scowling slightly. "You guys better not be creepy like him!"

"He's not creepy. He's doing what he was trained to do," the other officer said.

"So you trained him to be creepy," Mekanikku stated dully.

"These guys are mercenaries and pros," Protoman said. "Just let them do their job."

"At defeating Bass?" Mekanikku said smugly. "That's interesting... I thought I heard that they couldn't get him..."

"Quiet," Samui growled, glaring at her.

"Aw, did I hit a nerve?" Mekanikku taunted.

"Stop it," Samui said, taking a step closer.

"You better lay off, girl," the officer said.

"What're you gonna do, fake ninja?" Mekanikku asked, smiling smugly while getting closer to Samui.

Mekanikku stiffened as she felt something sticking into her stomach and slowly drew back.

"I'm better than you think," Samui said darkly.

Mekanikku felt around her stomach area, searching for the pain that was there a second ago.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"Ki," Samui said. "Made the impression of pain by concentrating energy into your stomach."

"Samui's what you'd call a _real_ ninja," the lieutenant explained. "He knows most of the forgotten techniques." Samui nodded as Mekanikku scoffed.

"We'll see about that," she said as she stalked off into the hall that she was eavesdropping from. "Stupid jerk," she muttered as she slammed the door behind her.

She fingered her pouch as she walked into the room that was designated for her, thinking about making new modifications to the shotgun. Only problem was, what to do to it?

She sat down and slowly dragged her fingers on the barrel, visualizing the different changes she could make to it. She could add a grenade launcher to it... or combine it with her EMP gun. She chuckled as the thought of a shotgun with a chargeable blast. Or maybe a shield against... Sam... She grinned. Maybe she could call him Samfooey... That'd rile him up. She giggled as she pulled out a piece of paper and began sketching a new design. The function of it would come later.

She looked up as someone knocked on her door and scowled. If it was Samfooey...

"Mekanikku, have you calmed down yet?" Protoman asked.

Never mind...

"Mayyyyybe..." Mekanikku said as she stowed her shotgun and put the blueprints in the pouch.

Protoman slowly opened the door and closed it as he walked in and sat down on the bed next to Mekanikku, his sunglasses concealing any emotion that was in his eyes.

"Any questions about Samui?" Protoman asked as Mekanikku bowed her head.

"I just want him to back off," Mekanikku said, a little frustrated at herself for letting Protoman's presence make her feel bad about what she did to Samui. "If he can just leave me alone, I'll be fine."

"He's just doing his job," Protoman said as he shrugged. "He's been doing this ever since he was young and eventually did it out of instinct."

"Can't he at least liven up?" Mekanikku asked, her tone conveying her frustration. "It's so annoying how he just uses the same flat tone _ALL_ the time!"

Someone knocked rapidly on the door and Iris exclaimed, "Protoman! Bass blew up the police station!"

Protoman sat upright and opened the door, revealing Iris in her usual clothes, Zero by her side.

"How'd he do that?" Protoman asked. "Were there any sightings of Robot Masters hanging around?"

"That's just it! We have no sign of them," Iris said.

"It must've been done by someone else," Zero said coldly. "We're trying to figure out who, but, for now, there's no clues."

Protoman nodded and partially covered his mouth with his hand in a thoughtful pose.

"All right. I'll take Megaman with me and check it out," Protoman said.

"Can I come?" Mekanikku asked, getting off the bed.

"I'll be sending you on a different mission," Protoman said. "If you feel up to it."

"I'm ready!" Mekanikku exclaimed, slowly grinning lopsidedly.

Protoman grinned slightly and nodded.

"Your next mission is sabotage. You'll be working with the best," Protoman said.

"You're not serious..." Mekanikku began, feeling like strangling him.

"So you and Samui will be working together," Protoman said, still grinning.

"I knew it!" Mekanikku half-shouted. "What is wrong with you?"

"If you're going to work with me, you're going to learn to work as a team, even with those teammates that you don't enjoy," Protoman said calmly. "You're free to walk away, but don't expect us to treat you as a friend. We _will_ be watching you since you could become a possible traitor."

"'Could' and 'possible' are pretty iffy statements," Mekanikku retorted as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

Protoman sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. I'll send Darkman with him."

"Except that he's still injured," Mekanikku pointed out. She didn't want to get left behind, but she didn't want to be with Samui.

"Then either he works alone or you deal with him," Protoman said. "He could probably teach you certain techniques if you go with him."

Mekanikku groaned and put her hand on her forehead. "Ugh..." The concept of new techniques was intriguing, but learning it from Samfooey? "Fine," she sighed. "But you better _guarantee_ that he'll teach me new techniques!" She turned partially around while still looking at Protoman and crossing her arms, feeling like sticking out her tongue at him. It didn't help her attitude when he just chuckled.

"Fine, fine," he said, waving it off. "I'll tell him that you're coming with him and to teach you something."

"Good," Mekanikku said and Protoman walked out of the door, Iris and Zero shifting slightly to let him through.

"So you're the new one," Zero said, grinning slightly.

Mekanikku's smile broke through, despite her best attempts. "Yep. And you're Zero, legendary hero brought back from the past."

Zero laughed light-heartedly and shook his head. "Never thought of myself as a hero. That's X's job."

"Modest, as always," Mekanikku said with a light chuckle. "C'mon, Zero, you know that you saved us from Copy X."

Zero chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. "I just wish that I could've stopped Weil somehow without destroying Neo Arcadia with Ragnarok."

"But that was Craft's doing," Mekanikku persisted.

"I know, but..." Zero shook his head. "I can still imagine the voices..." He looked steadily, but almost as if he was frozen, at Mekanikku. "The screaming voices of the innocent..."

"But at least you tried, right?" Mekanikku asked, still confused.

Zero nodded. "Of course, but I still wish I could have done more..."

"Zero, you tried your best. That's all that we need," Iris said as she kissed Zero lightly on the cheek.

Zero smiled softly as he looked at Iris and quickly kissed her on the lips.

"And you're all I need," he whispered.

"What about me?" Axl pleaded as he popped into view, Zero quickly facepalming himself.

"I should've known you'd show up just now," Zero muttered and Axl burst out laughing.

"C'mon, Zero, you know that you like me," Axl said with a lopsided grin.

Zero chuckled and nodded. "That is true, but you seem to be everywhere at the wrong time."

"That's what I do best!" Axl said as he pulled out his pistol. "Especially when there's mavericks! I'll clean them out..."

"You're there with mavericks at the wrong time?" Zero said, laughing mildly.

"Wait, what? No! I mean-" Axl interjected before Zero interrupted him with a loud laugh.

"No, I know what you mean," Zero said with a chuckle and Mekanikku smiled. She felt slightly nervous in front of Zero because... well... he was a hero. And she was just a simple warrior/mechanic. Her smile instantly died when Samui stepped into view.

"Protoman said you're coming with me?" Samui asked, the mask not covering his face this time. Mekanikku nodded stiffly and Samui returned the nod. "Follow me then," he said as he turned away.

Mekanikku barely stopped a huff from coming out as she followed him, fingering her pouch. They walked into the main part of the room and into where Samui left his motorcycle.

"Where's mine?" Mekanikku asked.

"I dunno, but Protoman said that we're going to ride together. Apparently yours was borrowed from one of the team," Samui stated flatly.

Mekanikku scowled as she got on the back seat of the motorcycle with Samui in front of her.

"You're gonna want to hold on," Samui said as he looked back at her, pulling his mask in front of his mouth.

"I can manage," Mekanikku said.

"I doubt it. Hang on," Samui growled.

"Listen, you can't just boss me around!" Mekanikku retorted.

"Okay," Samui said as he turned back and started the engine. Slowly, he revved the engine and nodded.

Mekanikku's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed Samui by his sides before he pushed the motorcycle's engine for all it was worth.

"You idiot!" she yelled as they blasted through the passages.

"What did you say?" Samui yelled over his shoulder.

"You did that intentionally!" Mekanikku tried to yell over the noise of the wind.

"I wouldn't do something like that," Samui shouted as he cut sharply to the side, avoiding a falling axe.

"You took us through a trap?" Mekanikku yelled.

"I don't really care about how Protoman laid this out! I just wanna get to where I need to go!" Samui yelled as he banked the motorcycle towards the wall. Mekanikku screamed and shut her eyes tight as Samui calmly muttered a phrase. Mekanikku felt something and slowly cracked open one of her eyes.

"What did you do?" she gasped. Samui's gaze kept focused on where he was going and Mekanikku sighed. "What did you do?" she asked louder.

"What?" Samui shouted.

"What did you do?" Mekanikku yelled.

"Ancient ninja technique. You'll learn eventually," Samui shouted over his shoulder and refocused his gaze.

"Just tell me when it's over," Mekanikku said as she looked down. Each time they went through a wall was making her muscles tense. It'd take a while for her to get used to this new form of transportation.


	5. Sabotage Mission

Samui was perched quietly on the edge of a large skyscraper overlooking the bustling city as Mekanikku leaned against a large spike, picking out various parts from her pouch according to her blueprint. They'd been sitting there for about four hours and it was getting cold and terribly boring. Samui wasn't much for conversation. The only thing he had done was look over a large corporate building and occasionally glance to the side, ignoring any conversation that she tried to start up. Maybe half-heartedly, but it was a start.

"When are we going to do this?" Mekanikku said, exasperated with the long wait. "We've been sitting here for forever. I wanna go back to base and sleep."

"Humans should learn to control their desires," Samui replied coldly as he pulled out a cord with a weighted end from a pouch on his belt.

"So you're not human?" Mekanikku said, smirking to herself.

"I'm human from head to toe and from hand to hand," Samui retorted as he started to spin the cord around in the air. "I just learned to control myself."

"I wouldn't call that human," Mekanikku huffed as she folded her arms over her chest, looking contemptibly over the city in front of her.

"You'll get used to it. Consider that my tip for the day," Samui said as he flung the cord across the gap that separated the buildings.

"To get used to it or to control everything?" Mekanikku said blankly, hiding her surprise that the cord actually made it to the building.

"Not everything. Just yourself," Samui said as he turned around and tied the cord to the spike that Mekanikku was leaning against. "Here," he said, handing some black gloves towards Mekanikku. "You'll need these."

"I'll be fine," Mekanikku said, showing her own brown fingerless gloves. "Got these."

"Those won't last with this type of cord," Samui said, deftly pulling her gloves off.

"Hey! Give me those!" Mekanikku exclaimed, standing up abruptly and reaching out for them as Samui pulled them away, leaning backwards partially over the edge of the building.

"Stop it," he growled, gently pushing her away from him. "Yours are made of simple quality. The ones I gave you are made out of a highly durable fiber of fabric. If you were to use yours, they'd rip apart and then your hands would rip apart."

"I have my ways," Mekanikku said, her fists on her hips as she glowered at him.

"That doesn't damage the cord?" Samui returned.

"Uh..." Mekanikku curled her lip in defiance and huffed. "Fine."

She picked up the gloves from the ground as Samui turned around and she slipped them over her hands, the fabric smoother than what she thought it would be.

"Hey, how are these so soft?" Mekanikku asked, moving her fingers to relish the silky texture of the material. She looked at him just at the right time to have her other gloves fly into her face.

"Synthesized fabric. Made by me," Samui said, either ignoring her as she snarled or oblivious to her snarl. "Don't ask me how I did it because I'm not going to tell you until you actually cooperate with me willingly. Now follow me."

Mekanikku watched as Samui gripped the cord lightly and lifted his feet off the ground, letting the downward force of the cord's slope to drive him forward across the street below. She twanged the string devilishly, contemplating whether to slice it or leave it alone... except that slicing it would probably make her as bad as Bass. She sighed and interweaved her hands over the cord. She took one look over the edge of the building she was on and shivered, taking a step back and unlocking her hands.

She could see Samui all the way across onto the top of the dimly lit roof of the corporate building and shook her head sternly.

"C'mon, just let me find an easier way," she said silently, more to herself than anyone.

A groan escaped her as Samui's head shaking and the motions of his hand tried to call her over. She was about to back away a step except that she remembered something. He just said that he'd teach her how to make the material that formed the gloves if she followed his commands... It'd be pretty cool to be able to do that and probably very handy.

She took in a deep breath before interlocking her hands and throwing herself onto the cord, letting her own momentum and the slope of the cord push her forward. She tried to pull her knees closer to herself but seemed to have lost all control. The only control she could do was shut her eyes to stop looking down into the streets.

"Don't close your eyes!" Samui yelled, her eyes snapping back open to the view of the passing traffic in the street below.

She tried her hardest to look up, but it seemed to draw so much of her attention. Not only that, she could feel a scream welling up inside of her lungs. Not too much farther to go... If she could last that long, she could calm down for a second before continuing on. She blinked blankly as a new thought occurred. Why were they even here on a _corporate_ building anyway?

She extended her legs and absorbed most of the impact when she collided into the upper terrace that flattened into the roof. A small amount of pain went through her legs, but it was easy to shrug off. The rising scream, however, was still coming.

"You could've gotten over here a lot more easily if you didn't interlock your hands," Samui said from the railing of the building. "Makes it a lot harder to grab onto things that are below you as well as to receive help."

"Look, just help me up, okay?" she said stilly as she tried to calm herself down, looking up at him contemptibly.

"That's what I'm saying," Samui said, returning her look as a blank stare. "I could've helped you a lot more easily if you didn't interlock your hands."

Mekanikku frowned, knowing that he was right. Why did he have to be right? She stifled a groan as she held on, hoping that he'd do something before her grip failed. He began muttering strange phrases and doing strange handsigns for a second, making Mekanikku squirm slightly. She blinked as her gaze shifted, looking over the railing into the city streets, her hands still raised above her head, but her feet touching the roof. She stood there fixedly, stunned at the sudden change in direction.

"You can lower your hands," Samui said, which she did with mechanical motions. At last, a chuckle from him.

"You've. Got. To show me that," she muttered.

"Later," he replied with his usual monotonous tone as he calmly unattached the cord from the railing. Mekanikku watched as it sharply faded away towards the building they had just come from, frowning slightly at his response.

"Why not?" she asked, turning her head partially to look at him. "I did what you said, didn't I?"

"You don't trust me enough," he said, pulling out another cord from his other pouch and handed it to her. "Hang on, please."

Mekanikku grabbed the cord, unsure whether the gloves would hold. After all, the cord didn't do anything to damage the gloves. How would the gloves hold on?

"Um," she began, but relented and braced herself as Samui made his way down onto the side of the building, carefully stepping on the glass windows.

"Left please," he said as he stood above a lit window.

She carefully took a step to her right until he told her to stop. – She had figured that he meant HIS left, so she had to step to the right. He didn't say anything opposite of what she was doing, so it was all right. – He then recommenced the descent, stopping above each lit window and guiding Mekanikku. The thought of letting go flashed through her mind many times, but it was always forced back into the depths of her brain.

The cord jerked forward and she stumbled, trying to hold on while trying to stay on her feet.

A scream escaped her as the cord slipped out of her hands and she bent over the railing, reaching for it as it fell.

"Lost the cord?" Samui's voice came through a headset calmly.

Mekanikku sighed from relief and straightened as she held the headset closer to her ear.

"Yeah. Forgot that we had these on. That wait was way too long," she said.

"All right. Just find the roof entry door and get in through there," he said coolly.

"And then what?" Mekanikku asked as she walked around glass domes, trying to look for an entry into the building.

"Meet me three floors from your location. We'll continue on together from there. Don't get seen," Samui said over the silent sound of someone choking.

"Are you killing someone?" Mekanikku said quietly and coldly, narrowing her eyes even though she couldn't see him.

"Of course not. I rarely kill people," Samui said as Mekanikku wandered around a little bit more before she grunted in frustration. "You don't believe me, do you..."

"No, it's just," she groaned quickly, looking up despairingly for a second. "I can't find any way in."

"Are you sure? I found one way to get in through four slightly different locations," Samui returned.

Mekanikku took a quick glance around her and stopped suddenly, exhaling slightly. There was no way...

"Samui, I can't get through those glass domes!" she exclaimed. "I'm not a ninja like you are!"

"Thanks."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she yelled into the microphone.

"You acknowledged that I'm a ninja."

"Whatever," she groaned as she looked around one glass dome for a way to open it.

There was the slit to where it connected to its base, but no mechanism to open it. There was one thing she could check for.

She knelt down next to it and pulled out a strange optical device from her pouch that she put on top of her head. She moved a lense in front of one of her eyes as she closed the other eye and watched as shimmering light-blue light danced over the slit of the dome and the base.

"Electromagnetism," she said quietly as she put the apparatus back in the pouch. "Samui," she said, her hand covering the earpiece, "the domes are electromagnetically sealed. Is there a circuit breaker in there?"

"Lemme see if I can find one, but you should check to see if there's one there too. It'll save time."

"Will do," Mekanikku said, getting up on her feet and searching around for anything that resembled a circuit breaker.

After a short search, nothing turned up and Mekanikku found herself staring at the slit with a blank expression, racking her mind for different ways to get in. She wasn't familiar with a lot of skills to break into electromagnetically sealed devices. Overloading was really the only thing she knew of, which was out of the question. It'd take a lot of energy to overload it, more than just her simple EMP gun.

"Wait a minute," she muttered as she pulled out her pistol and stared at it.

She pulled out her shotgun and began modifying it quickly so that it'd accept a couple of EMP clips. She'd have to work fast when it was disabled, but that wouldn't be too hard. In a few minutes, the gun was complete and she pointed it at the slit.

"Here goes," she muttered before pulling the trigger.

The force of the blast startled her, throwing her backwards onto her back.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, grabbing her gun and scrambling over to the dome and lifting it up.

"Found your way in?" Samui said as he looked up at her, setting an unconscious guard in a dark corner of the squarish room.

"Partially," she smirked. "Now, any way to get down?"

"Try this," Samui said, pulling out another weighted cord and threw it up to her, the weighted end connecting to the inside of the base.

Mekanikku looked at it hesitantly and then back at Samui. How much strength did he think that cord's end had?

"You're kidding me, right?" she asked, bending over the base to look into the dark room.

"Nope. Go ahead. It'll hold unless you're a lot heavier than me."

Mekanikku scowled at him and grabbed onto the cord, lowering herself into the base of the dome as she held onto the edge of it with her other hand.

"Dang you, Samui," she said, already feeling another scream welling up inside of her as she tried to force her fingers to let go.

"Mekanikku, you've gotta trust me," Samui said coldly. She could almost feel his eyes drilling into her back. "Why would I kill you?"

She could think of reasons, but none that she would want to voice to him. If she died, it was his fault... Her fingers finally relaxed and flew to the cord, clinging on with a death grip as she closed her eyes and dangled above the ground, curling her body close to itself.

"Perfect. Now just climb down," Samui said.

Mekanikku cracked open one eye and exhaled, relaxing slightly. She looked up at the weighted end of the cord, making a mental note to ask him how he made it. Later though since he probably wouldn't tell her at the moment. She slowly made her way down until she was on top of a receptionist desk, feeling quite proud of herself. She leapt onto the floor, grinning broadly at Samui who was also grinning.

"Made it," she said.

"Very good," Samui chuckled, giving a tug on the cord that made it fall limply to the desk, Mekanikku's cocky expression falling away into surprise.

"Wait, what?" she said, looking up at where the weighted end was. "How'd you do that?"

"It reacts to my gloves and only my gloves," Samui explained coolly as he wrapped the cord up and put it back into his pouch.

"You've got to teach me how you make all of these things," Mekanikku said, following him as he continued through the room on the red velvet carpet that split to go through two doors on either side of the wall.

"Later," he said. "You take right and I'll take left. Be on the lookout for any way to get around opponents or other obstacles."

"Sure," she said as she faced the door but quickly looked over at him. "Wait!" Samui turned his head halfway towards her, an inquiring look in his eyes. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Training." Was that a grimace that just flashed for a moment? "Lots of it."

If he really did grimace, she had a whole bunch of questions for him, but stopped herself. Maybe now was not the right time. They barely knew each other and he'd probably keep a lot of juicy information out. Unless...

She put on her sweetest face possible and asked, "Would you mind training me sometime?"

"That's what I'm doing," Samui said before his gaze broke from hers and he pulled a guard from a corner in front of a device that was next to the doors. She watched as he shoved the guard's face into a slot that the device had, wondering if she should do the same thing with the device next to her door.

Samui quickly let go of the guard and shoved the guard to the side before entering through the door and disappearing from sight. Mekanikku sighed and knelt at the guard's side, slowly caressing his hair.

"Do you know why we're here?" she asked sadly, not expecting a response. What were they doing here? Why were they infiltrating a corporate business? "What was your life like before you came here?" She waited for a second, sighed, and stood up, gently dragging the guard over to her door and placing his eyes in front of the slot.

The device soon beeped and a light on the door turned green, allowing entry. She set the guard down gently, taking one last look at him before walking through the door and through a corridor that led to the right and then left into a large hall. Mekanikku took a step forward into the moonlight filtering through the windows in the side wall but immediately retreated into the darkness of the hall.

"Samui, there's a guard," she whispered into the headset, watching as a series of green lasers deactivated as a guard in a green uniform walked through them on the hard, smooth, wooden floor. "What do the lasers do?"

"Those will set off the alarms. Careful, Mekanikku. One alarm and we'll have to get out of here pretty fast. You see the red buttons covered by a clear casing on the wall?"

Mekanikku peeked around the corner, watching the guard out of the corner of her eye, and nodded as she pulled herself back into the hall.

"Yeah, I see it," she whispered.

"Wait, what was that?" the guard said out loud.

Mekanikku's hand fingered her gun as her breathing became more labored. She could hear the guard's footsteps coming closer, each step reminding her that her gun was likely out of commission because of the empty magazines of EMP.

"Samui! What do I do?" she pleaded quietly.

"I'm sure I heard something," the guard said, stopping in his tracks for a moment before continuing towards Mekanikku.

"What? What's wrong?" Samui said, his own voice somewhat tense.

"There's a guard and he's coming towards me!" Mekanikku said as she tried to keep her voice under control, taking a quick peek at the guard.

"All right. Stay calm. Keep your breath low and retreat to a dark corner."

She slowly crept across to the beginning of the hall into the corner that was farther away from the guard and dark. She crouched low to the ground as the guard entered and stopped close to where she had been, her breath coming in erratically.

"I thought...?" the guard began but turned around and stood still for a second.

"Did he turn around?" Samui asked calmly.

"Yes," Mekanikku replied, her breath more stable.

"I want you to sneak up behind him, cover his mouth, and press on the pressure point in his wrist. Even reploids shouldn't be able to do anything against that."

Mekanikku slowly crept up behind the guard and stopped inches within the entry to the large hall.

"He's back into the lasers," Mekanikku whispered when the guard was halfway through the lasers.

"You should've nabbed him!" Samui hissed. "That was your chance!"

"I didn't want to stand in the light," Mekanikku returned, equally low and dangerous.

"It doesn't matter if he's the only one. Just grab him quick enough before he can notice your silhouette in the light. Oh, and press down on the pressure point hard. It won't work on reploids if you don't."

Mekanikku sighed and hid just around the corner. Maybe she should grab his attention? He walked so slow and her patience with this was fading away quickly. She puckered her lips and made an impression of a Whippoorwill, the call that she imitated best.

"What the?" the guard said quietly.

Mekanikku tensed as the guard's steps hurried over. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. She barely had time to move away before the guard was around the corner and looking down the hall. It was only a matter of time before he noticed that she was within touching distance. He was about a foot taller than she was which would make covering his mouth slightly more difficult. Only one thing left to do.

She pulled out her shotgun, the sudden movement of her startling the guard into raising his gun, and slammed the handle into the guard's face, sprawling him on the floor. Mekanikku stood over him as she tried to recollect what she had just done. She had just harmed a reploid... It was strange sometimes. It almost seemed like... she was connected to them all somehow. Maybe they were just too human? Most likely.

"Did you get him?" Samui's cold voice came through the headset.

"Yeah," Mekanikku said, shivering from adrenaline rushing through her. "Had to resort to hitting him hard in the head."

Mekanikku waited for Samui's response as she bent over the soldier and carefully took his gun from him. It'd be useful if they had to retreat and could probably be disassembled. Finally, Samui's voice came.

"Not my preferred method of knocking them out, but it'll have to do... Remind me to teach you how to _properly_ knock someone out."

"Sure," Mekanikku said, slinging the gun's strap over her shoulder in a way to have it rest diagonally across her chest.

"All right. Pick the guard up and walk through the lasers. There's a special identifier on his uniform that deactivates nearby lasers."

"Why don't I just take his uniform?" Mekanikku asked as she hoisted him onto her shoulder, her knees buckling as the bulk of the guard's weight bore down on her.

"Only if you want to undress him."

Mekanikku blinked and stood motionlessly as she thought about his words and what they meant.

"Good point," she said as she neared the lasers. "You better be right about this."

"Of course I am. I've done this type of thing before. Whenever a guard walks through lasers it means he has that identifier. I normally don't have to use those because I just crawl on the ceiling."

"And you do that.. how?" Mekanikku asked as she warily scanned around her, straining her eyes into the dark end of the hall to check for any movement.

"Ninja claws, though I have other ways which I would use on missions like this."

Mekanikku stopped at the end of the hall and dumped the body next to a room that looked like a kitchen, keeping the body away from the light streaming through the windows. Slowly she straightened, groaning slightly as her spine popped.

"Ugh," she groaned. "That guy was heavy. Please don't have me do that again."

"You'll have to get used to it. I do this all of the time."

"I hope not. I prefer to just shoot them," Mekanikku said, holding the earpiece lightly.

"If that suits your fancy, but it doesn't work here."

"Fine," Mekanikku sighed, turning around to head down another hall, carpeted with the same red carpet. She stopped and immediately retreated into the dark hall as light streamed through the other hall.

"Did you see something?" a voice said from the far end of the lit hall.

"Maybe. Should we check it out?"

"Dang," Mekanikku said under her breath. "Samui, there's two of them."

"Is it dark?

"No," Mekanikku said, stepping away slightly from the hall.

"Is there a light switch that you can use to turn off?"

Mekanikku scanned the hall she was in quickly for any type of light switch, fingering her shotgun which was useless now, reluctant to shoot the guards with her other gun which she had stolen. It was understandable not to shoot them. Especially since she still didn't know why they were there. If there was a light switch, it was probably in the lit hall. Any movement would alert the guards. She retreated slightly more into the darkened hall, trying to think of how to deal with two guards at the same time. If she could break them apart somehow, she might be able to do what Samui said. A bottle clinked at her feet, making her stop at look at it. It might work...

The guards rounded the corner just as she stooped to pick up the bottle. She crouched, the bottle in her hand ready to be thrown. She could throw it at one of them if she needed to, but they didn't seem to be noticing her. Maybe she didn't need to separate them. Maybe she could just bypass them completely. She tossed the bottle over her shoulder and tensed, ready to bolt if the guards noticed her. The bottle shattered on the ground almost at the other end of the hall, startling the guards.

"Did you hear that?" one guard asked.

"Yeah," the other one said, aiming his gun straight ahead.

Mekanikku analyzed them closely as they passed by her by a hair's length. These guards were different than the other one. They seemed to be more professional in both their stance and the way the held their guns. Metal masks protruding from the sides of their heads covered their mouths while several grenades and other attachments hung from bandoliers. Mekanikku waited, looking over her shoulder at them as they walked over to the shattered bottle, their heavy leather boots thumping on the ground. She ran as fast as she could while crouched, turning off the light in the other hall as soon as she entered it.

She crept warily through the hall, looking and listening for more guards. Every muscle was tensed as she waited for something to emerge out of nowhere and try to kill her. She ducked into a nearby room and closed the door, leaving the room completely dark. The urge to turn on the light had to be suppressed and she crept forwards, feeling her way around what felt to be cubicles. She pulled out her shotgun and began modifying it as her eyes adjusted to the sparse light, changing it into a rifle that could be switched into a shotgun mode. True, the shotgun mode would probably not be available, but it would be a reminder to finish it later. She stiffened as she heard the door handle open and guards silently talking to each other.

"Do you remember that door being closed?"

"No. Wanna turn on the light?"

"Yeah, just to make sure."

"Oh, please don't..." Mekanikku whispered, holding her gun close to her while still reluctant to use her other one. She could use it if everything else failed. She pulled herself underneath the desk of the cubicle she was in and pulled an office chair close to her as the light came on. There was nowhere to go without revealing her location.

The sound of the boots were heading down the other side of the cubicles. If she could get out silently enough... she blinked. Right across from her was an air vent with the grate taken off. She slowly pushed the chair away and ran as quickly as she could while trying to keep it silent. She almost flung herself into the grate as the boots' pace quickened.

"I heard something."

"Same."

Mekanikku pulled herself into the vent as quickly as she could and stopped once she thought that she had gone far enough to hide her from sight. The option of moving forward was dangerous if the metal vent clanked at all. She exhaled as the boots thumped past and she tried to drag herself farther in. Her ankles were tightly gripped and she was dragged out into the open, her scream echoing along the vent's walls. She twisted around and tried to free a leg from one of the guards.

"INTRU..!" the guard's buddy yelled before bending over painfully and dropping limply to the ground.

The other guard immediately let go of Mekanikku and spun around with a knife clutched tightly in its hand. He was knocked to the ground at Mekanikku's feet, limp as a dead corpse. Samui stood grimly over him, extending a hand to Mekanikku.

"How did you..." Mekanikku said as she got up with Samui's help.

"I could tell that you were in trouble. Your breath in the microphone came in an unsteady pace," Samui said quickly. "So I located you as best I could."

"But what about the other times when there was danger?" Mekanikku asked.

Samui shrugged. "I could tell that this one was worse. Your breathing was in a worse condition and you were muttering to yourself."

"Oh. I was?" Mekanikku said, giggling to herself slightly. Samui nodded, a grin slowly spreading. "Whoops," she said, giving an innocent look. Samui burst out laughing and stopped suddenly, trying to frown.

"Not too loud," he said, still trying not to laugh.

"Yeah," Mekanikku said, picking up a guard by his feet. "Do you think we should hide these two?"

"It's a good idea," Samui said, picking up the other by his feet. "Let's take them into the cubicles and turn off the lights."

Mekanikku nodded and dragged her guard over into a cubicle and stuffed him under the desk as tightly as she could. At the least, he'd be really annoyed about the crick in his neck when he woke up. She followed Samui to where he was also putting a guard underneath a desk, though not as tight as the guard that Mekanikku took care of. It was probably for the best. She turned off the lights and turned to Samui as he finished putting the guard underneath.

"Where to now?" she asked. She raised an eyebrow at a new thought and asked, "What're we even doing here?"

"I believe that Protoman termed it 'sabotage'," Samui said, walking over to the vent that Mekanikku had tried to escape into. "We need to reach the level where all of the CEOs' files are. About in between where you dropped me off and the roof. We'll delete the files and give it a data fingerprint of one of the CEO's to make it look like it was an inside job and effectively frame the CEO. We'll take the data for ourselves." He pulled himself into the vent and slowly began crawling in, Mekanikku following behind.

"And we're doing this, why?" Mekanikku asked, her voice echoing along the vent.

"Keep it down," Samui snarled. "We don't want to get caught."

They rounded a corner in the vent that opened into a luxurious room with pictures of dignified people framing the walls while a desk sat close to the far end of the wall, a chair facing the wall. Samui crept forward and stopped when a masculine voice called, "Maid? Is that you? I need some more coffee." Samui motioned Mekanikku over to the chair with a flick of his head, an action she didn't understand. She wanted to whisper to him to ask why, but the expression in his gaze told her of his intent. Reluctantly, she nodded and crept towards the chair. "Maid?"

She flung her arm around the best guess that she had about where the man's neck was and brought her other hand around to where the man's mouth should be. The muffled gasp and the feel of a thyroid gland was a comforting sound and sensation. Slowly, Samui crept in front of the man and produced a knife from a black belt that looked like black leather.

"See this? This'll go through your screaming throat if you try to yell for help," Samui said coldly. His lips curled savagely as he continued, "Which should be humorous." Mekanikku's eyes widened. What kind of creep was he? The savage grin faded away into nothingness and Samui relaxed slightly. "Got that?" The man nodded quickly and Samui nodded to Mekanikku. She tried to divine some meaning from his nod, but the most she got was... possibly lift him up and... do what she should've done to the first guard.

She hoisted the man to his feet, dragging him out of the chair, and twisted his arm around while quickly maneuvering the arm that was around the man's neck to the pressure point located next to his wrist. She raised an eyebrow for affirmation to see if this is what Samui wanted. He made a quick nod that was barely perceptible and stowed the knife.

"Now, what are you, Mr... uh..." Samui began, taking careful strides in front of the man. He stopped and waited for a reply. "Fine then. I'll call you Bob." Samui straightened. "How are you Bob? Good day, Bob. Is that really you, Bob? Breakfast time, Bob." He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Sounds good. You look like someone that could be a Bob."

"It's Reffi!" the man spat, struggling against Mekanikku's grip, which he could have easily broken from if she didn't press on his pressure point.

"I'm going to call you Bob," Samui said, producing the knife again. "Or do you want a knife through the throat?" Mekanikku stifled a groan, but her rolling her eyes was possible to detect only to Samui. Either he ignored her or he didn't see it.

"Y-yes, sir," Reffi said.

"Thank you," Samui said, spinning the knife in his hand which seemed to take almost all of his attention. "How long have you been working here?"

"Six years, no! Seven!" Reffi cried desperately. _Does he really know what's going on? Or why we're here?_ Mekanikku thought.

"So you're a CEO here after all of your hard work?" Samui asked, still spinning the knife in his hand.

"N-n-no.. Uh, sir." The man shook his head in small movements. "I'm just a manager here. Uh, head employee manager!"

"Very good... you're just what I'm looking for," Samui said, his gaze breaking from the knife to look at Reffi, a smile creeping slowly. "I'm having a little bit of trouble helping out the power employee outside. He says that there's a small problem with the power generator and that it needs to be shut down. The only thing is," Samui scowled and took a step closer, "there's a lock on the generator's door. And, believe me, you don't want to make the power company angry. That's why you get people like me here."

"T-t-terribly sorry!" Reffi exclaimed, trying to break from Mekanikku's grip. "I'll make sure to unlock that right away."

"Now," Samui said coldly. "I'm sure that you can either tell us the code or unlock it from here."

"I... I..." Reffi's gaze shifted around quickly before it rested back on Samui. "I don't know how to unlock it from here, but I can tell you the code."

"Do tell," Samui said, resting against a mantlepiece that held up a picture of a predominant man, assumably the owner of the company.

"It's 3. 5. 0. 1," Reffi said. "I hope that you can solve the problem."

"Yes. It helps a lot," Samui said, nodding slightly to Mekanikku. "Now, Silvia, can you do the honors?" Mekanikku froze and tried to move something. Anything. She didn't really care what she moved, she just needed to move. Was the thought of choking someone really that bad? "SILVIA!" Mekanikku's arms flew to Reffi's neck and pulled tight against it. She tried to ignore the choking noises that he made until he became limp. Instantly, she dropped him to the ground, her breathing rapid and coming in shivers. Samui gently touched her shoulder and she pulled away. Killing Bass and his bots wasn't so bad, but fighting her own kind? It seemed so... unforgivable.

"You know we couldn't leave him conscious," Samui said gently.

"Why not?" Mekanikku challenged, glaring at him through the tears in her eyes. "Why couldn't we just leave him conscious?"

"He'd give us away," Samui said coldly, matching her glare by narrowing his eyes at her. "And we would've had to pull out."

Mekanikku folded her arms and scowled at the ground. He was right... again... She spun on her heel and walked away towards the door, crouching down to check for any sign of movement. She sighed as she stood up and pulled the door open, light streaming through. The hall was devoid of guards as she checked, but this hall was slightly different from the other one she had used._ I'm probably just lucky,_ she thought as she stepped out into the light and turned off the hall lights.

"What happened to the lights?"

_I kinda suspected that there'd be someone there,_ Mekanikku thought as she moved down the hall towards the voice, slightly conscious of Samui going down a different way. Probably to get the generator. It would be handy, at the least. Then they wouldn't have to worry about the lights anymore.

When Samui knocked down the guard's buddy, back when they were dragging her out, she had noticed that Samui seemed to hit the guard in the chin with the palm of his hand. Maybe that'd work here. She crouched next to the corner, waiting as the sound of the guard's boots came closer. Once the guard came into view, Mekanikku suddenly stood up straight and drove her open hand into the guard's chin, his head snapping backwards as he fell over. Mekanikku stood over him for a second, shuddering from the sound that the guard's neck made when she attacked him. _I guess I should've known. _She turned away, disgusted with herself. _They ARE reploids, styled after humans. Of course they'd have a similar spine structure._ She crouched again and crept unsteadily from the shock through the rest of the hall and entered a stairwell. She flipped a light switch, turning off the lights and began to descend, slowly and almost noiselessly, turning off light switches as she went. No resistance. If only Samui had specified a floor, then she could've gotten to it a lot easier. _Wait..._

"Samui? It's Mekanikku," she whispered, holding the earpiece.

"Ya don't say?" She gritted her teeth, withholding a comeback.

"Yes. Is the power down?"

"Almost. Gimme a few minutes, k? The programming on this is quite sophisticated. I'm having some trouble reprogramming it to turn back on after a set period of time. At the least, it'll look like the building just experienced a blackout instead of an attack."

"But what about the manager?" Mekanikku asked, looking through the gap in the door that she was behind.

"Oh yeah..." Mekanikku groaned and slapped her forehead. "I forgot about him. Oh well."

"Does this happen often?" Mekanikku asked as she pulled away from the door. From what she could see, the hall was devoid of guards.

"Nope. Not too often. C'mon, you little... How do you work?"

"Just snap the power cables. We've already blown the reason to reprogram it," Mekanikku said.

"Gotta do this."

"Just snap the cables, for goodness sakes!" Mekanikku cried.

"I don't want to do it the – There we go!"

Mekanikku checked underneath the door again as the lights in the hall crackled for a few seconds before dying. Slowly, she opened the door, looking for more guards. She sighed from relief. None. They seemed to be almost everywhere in the first couple of floors. How did Samui even manage to do this for a job? Maybe his lack of emotions was the result of this... except for the fact that, throughout this mission, he hadn't been completely emotionless. He did laugh one time. _Yeah... ONE time... Probably just a fluke,_ Mekanikku thought as she checked underneath another door.

The room, from what she could tell, had a very elegant designer. The carpet looked very soft and the wood on the bottom of the walls seemed to be covered with plated gold. Mekanikku's thoughts wandered as the soft crackling of the fire made her think of her old home before she moved. She sighed reminiscently. Her old home was elegant, almost like this single room was. The details were blurred since she was only a small girl at the time, but she did remember the events that happened there. Her first loose tooth... The Christmas when they visited the neighborhood and caroled and gave gifts... The day... – A lump formed in Mekanikku's throat. – The day they found out that their father's company failed. It had been so sudden. The funds that were stored in the company bank were depleted to the last penny and that was the year that taxes on companies went up. They kept the house for a while, but the company couldn't be saved. With the fall of the company, they sold the house and bought a much cheaper house, one that they could maintain on a low income with father's new job.

Footsteps awakened her from her daze and she put her hand on the handle of the door instinctively. The footsteps were coming from inside the room.

Only one thing left to do.

She turned the handle and slammed the door open, flinging a nicely dressed woman backwards to the ground. Mekanikku groaned as some blood gently dripped from the woman's forehead. Mekanikku closed the door and took out a small handkerchief and wrapped it around the woman's forehead to stop the bleeding.

Then, it was on to the main objective, hopefully.

The room looked like it could be the CEO's room, or the boss's room. Mekanikku made herself comfortable on a chair with a computer in front of it and began to browse through the files. Samui said to delete them, but... how do you give the deletion the fingerprint of a CEO?

"Samui, I'm here in a CEO's office, but I don't know how to delete files with the data sig of a CEO," Mekanikku said.

"Oh, that? That's easy. Basically, just delete all of the files manually. Probably a little misleading the way I said it. Don't forget to restart the computer or else it won't actually delete everything. It looks deleted, but they can do a scan on the hard drive that'll bring all of the data back. Don't forget to copy the data though."

"Got it," Mekanikku said, selecting a large group of files and copying them into a small chip and then deleting all of the data files on the computer. "Restarting the computer."

"Good."

Mekanikku got up from her chair once the computer restarted and crouched next to the CEO. The handkerchief was slightly bloody, but it should hold until the CEO could get help. Mekanikku stood up and went back out of the door, just as the lights came back on.

"Samui! We're not...!" Mekanikku began.

"Dang it! Someone else must've overridden my programming!"

"Wait, so you didn't set it like that?" Mekanikku asked, racing up the stairway.

"Meet me at the roof. We'll escape from there."

Mekanikku stopped at the top of the stairway that seemed to end abruptly at the roof. Mekanikku tsked and pushed upward, silently muttering to herself. Trap door. They had a trap door that was on the roof. It would've been so much easier if she had found it but the darkness concealed it.

She jumped out of the trap door and ran over to Samui as he stood by the edge where they had come from, overlooking all of the traffic.

"What now?" she asked.

"Hang tight," he said, his tone devoid of feeling. Mekanikku grabbed around his chest, wondering what he was planning. "Tighter." She tightened her grip and then realized what was going on.

"Samui!" she screamed as he flipped over the edge, hurtling towards the street below.

Mekanikku closed her eyes, trying to breath against the force of the air pushing against her. _When has he failed you?_ she thought suddenly. It was true. He always had been there. He probably had a plan here too. _You better be right._

"You'll want to see this!" Samui yelled, jarring her eyes back open.

_What the heck?_ she asked mentally as their descent slowed and their direction slowly changed. Mekanikku looked behind her to see Samui's feet running against the wall of the building, clinging to it like a chameleon. Their directional change was gradual, but soon he was running horizontally and his pace slowing to a normal sprint. From there, it slowed to a jog until he spun around and latched onto the side of the building with his hands and feet, stopping all movement. Slowly, they began to slide down as a crowd gathered below them. Mekanikku chuckled at them and looked up at Samui as he concentrated on sliding and shifting to the side.

All at once, something impacted next to them, breaking Samui's grip. The crowd's exclamation was noticeable, but Samui didn't seem worried at all. Just concentrated. Mekanikku watched as they neared the crowd, wondering what else Samui had. What else could he do? They were away from the wall and it didn't look like he was using any more of the cords that he had.

Mekanikku clutched tighter as she slid down slightly from Samui giving a sudden surge forward in mid-air. She wanted to scream, but the first thing she needed was air. She looked up as Samui grabbed onto a light pole and then swung forward off it.

"Let go and roll!" Samui shouted. Mekanikku nodded and steeled her nerves for it.

She tore herself away from Samui and hit the ground feet first, softening the blow by rolling as instructed. The only thing that was wrong was the inability to get back up. She instead lay on the ground, trying to regain the air lost from her lungs during the descent down the building.

"Mekanikku! Come on!" Samui yelled. She tried to respond, but it only came out as a pathetic rasp. Samui dashed towards her as something landed behind her and he grabbed her by her shirt and spun back around, heading back the way he came while dragging her along. Another impact threw him off his feet and they fell to the ground, Mekanikku trying to pull in as much oxygen as she possibly could while rolling onto her back.

Standing over them was an armored soldier, covered in a dark purple jumpsuit with armor that was a lighter shade of purple covering her chest, groin, legs arms, hands, and feet. A helmet with a large visor concealed her identity and two large tri-boosters were attached to the armor at her back.

"Anaribi..." Samui gasped. The soldier nodded.

"Samui" was its cold reply.


	6. Escape

A cold wind whisked its way through the streets, chilling Mekanikku as she lay on the ground, propped up on her elbows. Anaribi loomed over them, daunting in her combat armor.

"I see you brought another pathetic human with you," Anaribi said coldly, reaching out her hand to help Samui up.

Samui got up on his own, ignoring her outstretched hand. They seemed... somewhat friendly to each other. At the least, they weren't at each other's throats.

_Wait a minute..._

"PATHETIC?" Mekanikku yelled, jumping to her feet. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING PATHETIC?"

"At least she's feisty," Anaribi said, looking at Mekanikku, her tone emotionless. Mekanikku would've at least liked it if Anaribi didn't have the helmet concealing her true identity.

"Anaribi, this is my trainee," Samui said.

"As good as the rest of them, I bet," Anaribi said, walking around Samui and Mekanikku as a small crowd moved towards them slowly. Mekanikku's hand lightly grasped the submachine gun that she had taken from the guard, the cold metal of the handle soothing her.

"True. They all had potential," Samui said. "I just hope that Mekanikku persists a little more than the others did."

"Wait, what?" Mekanikku asked, startled slightly. "What do you mean?"

"You're not the only one he's taught," Anaribi said, her tone conveying a slight sneer. "He had a few others."

"Like you?" Samui growled.

"I learned a lot more from myself than you!" Anaribi retorted, a faint whirring coming from her boosters.

"Whatever. I'm tired of fighting you," Samui said, turning away from her and calmly walking away.

"We're going to play that game again?" Anaribi snarled. "I'll count to fifteen this time."

"Sounds good," Samui said. "Mekanikku..." He stopped to look back at her. "You're gonna want to run." Mekanikku nodded slowly, still holding her sub-machine gun. Why was she supposed to run? "DON'T THINK ABOUT IT! JUST RUN!"

Mekanikku stumbled into a run as Anaribi began counting, pushing her way through the few people that were there at night, Samui having a slight head-start. Slowly, Mekanikku caught up to Samui. There were a few questions that needed to be asked.

"Samui, will you tell me just what the heck is going on?" Mekanikku pleaded, glaring at him slightly.

Samui shook his head sternly. "Don't ask questions. Just run."

"Why n–?"

"JUST RUN!" Samui yelled, increasing his speed.

Mekanikku struggled to keep up with him, wondering what could be so bad. Why couldn't they just fight her? After all, with the two of them, they could probably take her down.

Then she heard it.

It was low at first, but then rose into a high-pitched whine as it drew closer. That was probably the reason why. She looked over her shoulder and was tackled to the ground by Anaribi a second later. She hit the ground hard, but Anaribi leapt off of her quickly, giving Mekanikku no time to try to grab her.

"Samui! Watch out!" Mekanikku yelled, scrambling to her feet and firing a few rounds of her sub-machine gun at Anaribi. She ran towards them, but they had vanished suddenly. As she neared the place where Anaribi had been when Mekanikku fired the shots, she found crumpled bullets on the ground. Slowly, she crouched next to them and picked them up. "Dang..." she whispered. "Maybe he was right about her."

"Run Mekanikku!" Samui yelled as he leapt onto a building across the street and disappeared again, only a fraction of a second before Anaribi crashed next to the spot where Samui was, disappearing just as he did. From what it seemed like Anaribi was capable of doing, Samui's advice was probably valid.

She broke into another run, even though her lungs and sides were hurting, dodging traffic and people. Finally, she reached a point where she could not run anymore and found herself coughing and trying to deal with the pain inside of her. She took a glance back and sighed painfully, clutching her side. Samui and Anaribi weren't making any more appearances. Either she had killed him, or they were just hidden from view.

She slowly walked away, breathing heavily, her face downcast as she gently pushed through the few people walking past her. Maybe the worst had happened? Maybe Samui was gone.

_What's wrong with me?_ she wondered as she stopped at a street corner. _I hated Samui... _

"Thought I told you to run, not meander on over here," Samui said, startling Mekanikku, as he leaned against the wall of a nearby building.

"I... I thought...," Mekanikku began, still in shock slightly but a happy glow inside her.

"That I was dead?" Samui burst out laughing and Mekanikku raised an eyebrow. "No, Anaribi wouldn't do that."

"Why not? She seemed like she was trying to kill you," Mekanikku said, trying to figure out a reason why Anaribi wasn't trying to kill him. Samui chuckled and shook his head, only furthering Mekanikku's confusion.

"It goes like this, Mekanikku," Samui began, grinning. "When I was born, there was someone else born with me." Mekanikku wasn't sure what her expression was, but whatever it was, it made Samui laugh. "Hey, Mekanikku," Samui said, hunching over from laughing and leaning against the wall for support. "Pick up your jaw. You dropped it."

Mekanikku's laugh soon turned into a gasp as Samui emerged from the shadow of the building. Wounds from what looked to be knives covered him, a few on his face. "Oh my..." Mekanikku said, taking a quick step forward and putting herself underneath Samui as he collapsed. She caught him and helped support him, ignoring the few people that were offering to help. She waved them off and walked slowly to a small alley where they had put their motorcycle. At least... it should've been there.

"Anaribi must've found it," Samui said, running his blood-stained hand through his hair. Mekanikku sighed. There goes their only mode of transportation. Guess it was time to try to locate one of the hidden entrances to Protoman's lair. The only problem was that they were hidden. She sighed again, cursing Anaribi under her breath. It was going to be a long night...

She clung tightly around the alleys, not wanting to attract attention to her and Samui's injuries. Attention was the last thing they needed, especially because of the sound of sirens heading towards the corporate building. Finally, her and Samui reached a point where the alleys lead straight out into the streets, no matter which way they went. There was no way that they could make it. _Guess it's time to ask Samui._

"Samui? You awake?" she asked.

"Wait, what?" Samui asked, lifting up his head.

"Good. How do we get through? There's no more alleys and the cops are probably spreading out by now."

Samui took a moment to look around and shrugged, irritating her slightly. He should be the one that knows this stuff! It was even MORE annoying when he chuckled.

"So when are you going to start applying what I've been teaching you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she said, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"I was trying to teach you to look for alternate escape routes while we were inside. Don't you remember me telling you that?"

Mekanikku looked up the wall of a building and nodded. It seemed to have good handholds. At least adequate ones. Maybe... this was her chance to shine?

"Hang on?" Mekanikku said, readjusting Samui's weight on her. She could feel Samui's grip tighten on her shoulders and walked up to the wall's face, taking a deep breath. She gripped the wall tightly and struggled to find an adequate foothold. A slight protrusion in the metal provided a good foothold and she lifted herself up to another handhold. She continued this ascent until one of the officers finally entered the alley, shining his flashlight straight through the alley. Then she just hung there, gripping the wall for all she was worth. Another officer entered the alley from the other side, trapping Mekanikku in.

"You've got it all secured?" the first officer asked.

"It's all blocked off. They couldn't have escaped," the other officer said, shining his own light around the alley.

"Search everywhere," the first officer said, slowly walking through the alley and checking garbage cans and various other items that lay around: boxes, scraps of metal, and some pieces of forgotten clothing.

Mekanikku held her breath as they paused underneath her, their flashlights searching the wall around their heads' height. Mekanikku hesitantly placed her foot on another foothold and grabbed a metal protrusion in the wall and pulled herself onto it. She wobbled slightly on the narrow protrusion and readjusted her feet for a more stable position.

"Samui?" she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Samui whispered back. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just keep it down."

Mekanikku nodded and pulled herself up another ledge, stopping to take a quick rest. She took a brief look down and was surprised at how far she had gone. She was probably forty feet off the ground and she had been carrying Samui. Nothing seemed plausible to her to achieve this feat. And yet... she did it?

"Samui?" she questioned as the police officers took one last look around and walked away from the alley. "How did I do that?"

"The power of Ninjutsu is beyond the comprehension of mortals..." Samui said, his voice oddly reminiscent. "As such, it can overwhelm the human mind..."

"And you know this... how?" Mekanikku asked, but immediately bit her lip. It was someone he knew.

"A dear friend..." Samui's voice dropped into silence. Mekanikku nodded and latched her fingers onto another ledge. She pulled herself up onto it and stopped for a moment again, realizing that she was sweating. Samui slid off of her back and crouched on top of the ledge, his eyes looking tiredly over the city. Mekanikku followed his gaze and pointed to a large landmark.

"Think that Protoman would place an entrance there?" she asked.

"That's actually what I was thinking," Samui said, frowning.

"All right. You want me to carry you there?" Mekanikku asked, looking across the alley to another ledge, lower than the one they were on. "If I can..."

"Nah, I'm good. I might as well teach you something else while we're here," Samui said, walking to the edge of the ledge and turning around as he cupped his hands. "Run and jump into my hands with both feet."

Mekanikku took a step back towards the building's wall, questioning him in her mind. This feat MIGHT work, it might not. However, his gaze was stern and she paused a moment.

_He hasn't been wrong yet._

She ran across the small ledge that they were on and jumped into Samui's hands. Her momentum was enhanced as Samui flung her like a catapult across the alley and she landed easily on the other ledge. She turned around to watch Samui crouch on the edge of the first ledge and just stay there. "What're you doing?" she asked. Samui motioned her to the side and jumped backwards before throwing himself over the edge, bringing one knee close to his chest while he outstretched his hands to the sides, his black muffler fluttering in the night.

He landed on the edge and rolled into a crouch, pulling his face mask on. "Let's go. I can manage for now," he said cooly, the night air changing his breath into a fine mist. "Can you jump across the roofs?"

"There's always a first to everything," Mekanikku said as she pulled herself onto the top of the building, Samui doing the same. The rooftop was cluttered with pipes of various sizes, some rectangular, others cylindrical. It also wasn't perfectly flat. It'd be difficult to run across without slamming into something.

"Don't think about something, just do it," Samui said coldly. "If you really want to learn Ninjutsu, you've got to learn not to think like the common people. Common people say that 'you can't do this', but they underestimate the power of the Ninjutsu technique." He paused and gazed strongly ahead. "You can do this easily." Mekanikku looked across the landscape towards their target building, fear tugging at her mind. "I'll be there watching you and making sure you don't fall."

_He hasn't let you down yet._ Mekanikku told herself, gritting her teeth and setting her face into a hard, determined expression.

Her feet cut across the building, swiftly and more silently than she normally would've done. She wove in and out between the pipes, barely getting through without scratching herself. Fear began to creep through her as the edge of the building came closer. Maybe she wouldn't make it...?

_No time to think!_

Her foot sprang off the edge and everything seemed to fade away. Everything below her was a city street with a few cars and pedestrians, but fear was no longer an obstacle. Now it was a pathetic opponent. The only reality was Bass and his henchmen, who no longer stood a chance. Ninjutsu was a consuming force, enveloping everything. The whole city was covered in darkness. Dark silhouettes loomed overhead and below. Mekanikku pushed through them easily, the smaller objects feeling like humans, but there were no features. They were all blank shells. Everything else didn't have a distinct texture and, just like the other objects, had no features besides their basic outline.

"Mekanikku!" a distant, rasping voice called. "MEKANIKKU!" it yelled, closer this time.

In an instant, the objects burst into vivid colors, distinguishing them as hovercrafts, people, buildings, and streets. Mekanikku took a step back as she took in a long breath of air.

_How did I get up here?_ she asked herself as she looked down into the street from the skyscraper she was on.

"Amazing display, but you need to control it."

She spun around quickly, her hand grabbing her gun with a frightened grip. It... seemed human... it had the outline, but it was just like everything else before it had changed back into their natural colors. It was a dark shell of a human, but nothing more. In less than a second, the barrel of her gun was at the thing's forehead, Mekanikku's finger tensed over the trigger. The thing stood still as Mekanikku steadied her breathing, glaring at it.

An ethereal pink version of a hand slowly lashed out towards her gun and she spun around the creature, elbowing it in the back. Mekanikku watched as an ethereal pink version of the entire creature spun around with an arm outstretched. She leapt over it just as the entire creature spun around, following the motions of the pink one. _Huh... Interesting, _she thought, dodging another pink hand. _It's foretelling me what it's going to do._ She leapt backwards and then shot forward as a pink form of the creature jumped overhead.

Then something unexpected happened. It started moving faster.

Mekanikku was avoiding the pink version of the creature's strikes, barely dodging the real strikes. A pink leg shot out at her and she lunged at the creature, barely managing to predict its seeming-counter prediction. Her lunge threw it off balance and it began to fall, grabbing Mekanikku by her collar and pulling her down with it.

Swiftly, she elbowed it in the face and tore away from its grip. She tried to grab onto the wall of the building, but the creature latched onto her legs with its own legs and flipped her backwards towards the opposite side of the street.

She spun around in mid-air and caught the creature's fists as it flew at her, knowing, in the back of her mind, that the collision with the other building would be painful. Her thrust to its stomach with her knee was blocked by its hand. There was only one thing left to do now that the pink images didn't really seem to work too well anymore. Ever since the creature sped up, the images weren't working as well as at first.

She latched onto the creature's shoulders and managed to headbutt it, throwing off its concentration, and spun around in time to slam the creature into the building's wall. The creature's mouth opened, but its scream was oddly muted. There was no time to wonder why no sound was emitted and Mekanikku jumped off of it to grab on the wall right above it. A feeling tugged at her mind and she instinctively flipped to the side, avoiding the creature's leg as it made a large dent in the building's side. Another image leapt out at her and she jumped up the building's side, barely managing to avoid the creature. The next time, she was not so lucky.

She grunted as she was flung to the side as the creature rammed into her side with its shoulder, ripping her grip off.

_Not good!_ Mekanikku thought, reaching out to grab the wall as she fell. But that was only one of her troubles. The creature was also after her, falling with its hand outstretched. She batted its hand away, only to seemingly invigorate it into making itself more aerodynamic to speed its descent. She squeaked and tried to thrash around as much as possible as it wrapped its arms around her tightly, minimizing her movements.

"Stay still!" it said with a coarse voice. It looked swiftly to the side and, with a deft movement of its arm, flung out a thin cord that latched onto a small protrusion in another building. It was oddly similar to Samui's cords that he carried around. It even attached to buildings like his did.

_Oh... man..._ Mekanikku thought sadly to herself. _I've been attacking Samui..._

They swung low to the ground, the blackness of Samui fading away to reveal his stern face. Inwardly, Mekanikku felt something die and she laid her head on Samui's shoulder, feeling empty. What even just happened?

"The power of Ninjutsu is powerful, Mekanikku," Samui said as he made a light sprint once he touched the ground. "That's why I try to avoid going that far when I use it."

Mekanikku closed her eyes tightly, thinking hard about what had just happened in the couple of minutes. "But what happened?"

"The technical term is unknown to me," Samui said as he slowed to a walk. "but I call it Dark Overdrive. What it does is that you lose the ability to feel pain properly and everything blacks out."

"Is..." Mekanikku hesitated to say the rest. Inwardly, she sighed. It would be better for her to know everything about it. "There anything more I should know about it?"

"It eats at your mind, if you let it," Samui said grimly. "The Overdrive is a symptom of that. Anaribi was..." A lump seemed to form in his throat and his tone quieted almost to a whisper, "the first one to display that symptom.." The wind gently pushed away some of Mekanikku's bangs as she nodded her head, unconsciously slowing her pace slightly.

_So... given enough time..._ Mekanikku thought, _I'd... well... I guess Samui too, we'd become like Anaribi... But how long has he known about Ninjutsu?_ She thought about asking him, but at this point, it seemed almost pointless to ask him anything about his past or what he knew. Almost every other request was denied. It'd be a waste of speech to ask him anything.

The building that was their target soon loomed overhead, green neon lights shining from a level where the whole building started to slim for a story and then formed into a stubby teardrop shape.

"Now to find it!" Mekanikku exclaimed happily. "We're almost there!"

"That is, if it's even here," Samui said grimly, shifting his weight. Mekanikku put on an annoyed look, but avoided looking at Samui. It would be best to keep calm around him. He'd probably teach her more secrets if she controlled herself.

Mekanikku's ears perked up and her head tilted to the side, attracting Samui's attention.

"What's wrong?" Samui asked.

"I heard something." _There it is again..._ Mekanikku stopped to look around, wondering where the sound was coming from. "It was almost like a heartbeat..." _Where is that coming from?_ She spun around sightly and knelt low to the ground, ignoring the few people that were looking at her. She got back up and walked slowly, listening to the heartbeats, each beat getting stronger with each step she took towards the sound.

_So this is where it's coming from,_ Mekanikku thought as she stood next to a small rectangular protrusion in the wall of the building. _But what is it and how do I get to it? It can't be a real heart._

"What'd you find, Mekanikku?" Samui asked, limping slightly as he walked over to her.

"Found out where the heartbeat was coming from, but it's inside of this box thing and I don't know how to get to it," Mekanikku said.

"Heartbeat?" Samui asked. "Why are you hearing heartbeats?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out," Mekanikku said as she pulled out a small knife and dug it into the rectangular protrusion, only managing to drive the tip in. "It's a solid wall..."

"I doubt it," Samui said, kneeling down next to Mekanikku. Mekanikku waited as he placed his hand on the wall and closed his eyes.

"Up on your feet and up against the wall!" a voice called through a megaphone.

"Samui! It's the police!" Mekanikku whispered as she complied with the voice's orders. _C'mon, Samui... We've gotten so far..._

"You! The one in black! Up on your feet!" the voice called again. Samui slowly stood up, holding his hands up in the air. "If you make any sudden movements, we will shoot! Repeat, we WILL shoot!" Samui chuckled slightly, making Mekanikku nervous.

_What are you planning?_ Mekanikku thought.

She didn't have to think too long.

Samui became a blur and Mekanikku instinctively dropped to the ground before the guns started firing. _Maybe this is my chance._ Mekanikku turned around and concentrated on the heartbeats, the sounds of the police officers and their guns fading away to almost nothing. The heartbeat was so close, almost as if she could...

She stopped, her eyes wide as she realized what had just happened. She looked at her arm halfway through the wall. The memory of her and Samui traveling through Protoman's lair by going through the walls flashed back in her mind and she nodded numbly. She groped around the inside, trying to find a bottom to it. Unless there was no bottom? Was this one of Protoman's elevators?

She reached out with her other arm and pulled herself into the wall, managing to bring her legs in and down the elevator shaft.

"Oh? You figured out how to do that already?" Samui asked through the headset.

"I guess so," Mekanikku said smugly.

"Okay, just make room for me," Samui said.

"Hang on," Mekanikku said, glancing around her. "How do I get down?"

"I normally just drop down these shafts. The elevator shouldn't be that far down," Samui said.

Mekanikku shut her eyes, biting her lip to keep herself from questioning him. She hesitantly loosened her grip on the ground and let herself drop through the shaft. Her feet hit the elevator sooner than she expected and gritted her teeth as pain pulsed through her legs and feet.

"I'm down!" Mekanikku called once she was able to stand. "What now?"

"Just sink into the elevator. Hurry please. I don't want to hang here forever," Samui called back.

Mekanikku knelt down, questioning herself on how she did it before. It had seemed so natural, but now that she needed it again, it seemed out of reach. "Mekanikku!" Samui yelled. "Hurry!" Mekanikku's hand flew through the elevator and she dragged herself down into it, panting from Samui's sudden yell. Samui soon landed by her side, dropping into a crouch. He looked up and she grinned at him, the pride of her successes warming her.

"All right. I'll start teaching you how to go through without having to go hand first," Samui said, getting up and dusting himself off. Mekanikku frowned slightly. His tone was flat as though he was unimpressed. She waved it off, her desire to obtain secrets more powerful than the burning desire to slap him in the face and tell him to liven up. "My motorcycle's almost here." She raised an eyebrow at him and was about to ask why when the roar of an engine echoed through the corridors, quietly at first, getting louder with each passing second. Mekanikku took a step forward as she waited for the motorcycle to come into sight, unconsciously tapping the submachine gun by her side.

"Mekanikku?" Samui said, startling her slightly. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for the rest of his sentence. His gaze shifted away from her and he stared determinedly into the corridors. "You did well."

"Um," Mekanikku paused, slightly let down. "Thanks..." _So much for meaningful conversation._

The motorcycle sped through a wall and slowed to a halt in front of them, Samui getting into the driver's position as Mekanikku rode on the back again. "Ready?" Samui asked over his shoulder. Mekanikku nodded, finally realizing how tired she was. What time was it? She wished she had a watch, but she generally didn't use one, even at home. The motorcycle accelerated at a leisurely pace as Samui led it through the corridors. The right ones since there were no traps activating.

"Got tired of dodging traps?" Mekanikku said, giggling a little. Samui chuckled and shook his head.

"Heck, no," he said. "I decided to go slower this time and choose the right paths so that maybe you could rest for a bit. I'll wake you up when we get there." Mekanikku nodded groggily and her head slowly drooped, resting on Samui's back as she clutched around his waist.


	7. Hangtime

"_Mekanikku!"_ _Her younger brother ran down an elegant hall, filled with statues and pictures, towards her, holding a small, red, hard candy. "Guess what Daddy gave me!"_

"_He gave you a Pull-it?" Mekanikku asked, quite younger. About eight years old by this time._

"_Yeah! He's got more too!" her brother exclaimed, putting the small candy in his mouth._

"_I want some!" Mekanikku cried as she blasted past her brother, tinkering with a small clock as she ran past the statues. She ran down the marbled stone stairs quickly, resisting the urge to just slide on the banister. Mother had told her time and time again not to do it. Only now did it seem to be sinking in. Probably after Kai tried sliding down it snowboard style... and ended up in the hospital. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight._

_At the second level, she ran across the polished wooden floor, her bare feet making little noise. She glanced down over the railing of the last set of stairs and stopped suddenly._

_Her father and mother were embracing each other, their faces downcast. Her mother, a tall and beautiful woman wearing a pink dress, shivered slightly as a sob broke from her throat. Mekanikku took a step back, unaware of her grip on the clock. _

_She squeaked as she heard the first clank and reached out to grab the clock as it bounded down the stairs, small parts springing out everywhere with each impact. It stopped descending as the stairs took a turn, clattering against the wall and spinning a little on the hard stone. She crouched next to it and picked it up in her hands, looking at the empty interior. She looked down the stairs at her parents, small tears forming in her eyes._

"_I-I didn't mean t-to d-drop it," she said quietly, sniffling as she wiped away tears._

"_Mekanikku," her father said gently, kneeling next to her and holding her gently. "It doesn't matter. You can fix it. I know you can, but..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out another candy. "Do you want this?"_

"_Yes, please," Mekanikku said as she nodded, reaching out a slim hand towards it. Her father placed it in her hands, smiling sadly._

"_Mekanikku," her father repeated, "Your mother and I have something we have to talk about at dinner time."_

_Mekanikku tilted her head to the side with a confused expression. What was happening? Why were they so sad? Slowly, she said, "O...kay..." She raised an eyebrow, hoping for more answers. Her father shook his head and stood up, looming over her._

"_I'll explain it at the dinner table," he said._

The warmth of sheets soothed her as she rolled over onto her side, but they were slightly wet. She rolled over again, opening her eyes slightly. "What time is it?" she mumbled out loud, rubbing her eyes and moving her feet over the edge of the bed and sitting straight up. She looked around her and relaxed slightly. She was in her own room at Protoman's lair. She tugged at her brown jacket which was still on herand stood up, looking around again. Was it five o' clock? That was her typical time of getting up ever since her and her family had moved out to the smaller house. She looked around and grabbed her bag as it rested on the door handle and rummaged around in it until her fingers grasped onto a wooden object. She pulled it out and smiled as the old familiar clock greeted her eyes. Its wood frame wasn't polished anymore due to the effects of time, and it ticked erratically. It'd take a little more time to repair it, but it'd get there.

She opened her door silently, not sure if anyone else would be awake at this time of night, grabbing her bag as she left the room. Samui had probably carried her into her room instead of waking her up. Probably a good thing since she was normally mad at whoever woke her up when she was really tired.

She walked into the main hall and analyzed the doors that she walked past. Most of them were bedroom compartments, but a few of them were repair labs. She stopped in front of a room that was titled "Navigation" and looked over the door for a while. She looked down either side of her for any signs of anyone coming towards her. No one appeared to be coming, so she looked back at the door and gripped the handle firmly before quickly turning it and silently stepping inside, closing the door behind her.

"Oh," a voice said, startling Mekanikku into pressing her back against the door. She was slightly relieved when she realized it was just Iris. "Hey Mekanikku. What can I do for you?" Mekanikku looked at the various screens that sat around the room, some mounted on the walls. There was even a whole desk dedicated to operating equipment around the base.

"Well..." Mekanikku began hesitantly, "Is there any way that I can access the roof?" She paused, setting her finger on her chin thoughtfully, and added, "Also, what time is it?"

"The time?" Iris asked. She looked back at one of the screens and said, "It's five fifteen." Mekanikku smiled to herself. Almost right on time. "Now... as for that map." Iris looked closely at one screen, pushing the screen at certain points. She withdrew a little and motioned for Mekanikku to come. "Okay, so there's an elevator by the training arena," Iris said as Mekanikku drew close, "an elevator by the lab, and an elevator in Zero's room. Not recommended that you go into his room though."

Mekanikku studied the map with a scrutinizing look for a while before standing erect and nodding. She looked down at Iris and blushed. "One more question?"

"Sure!" Iris said, smiling.

"How did you, Zero, and everyone else survive to this period of time?" Mekanikku asked.

Iris's smiling face faded away and she tugged at her skirt nervously. "Well, um, I don't know... if I can tell you that..." Mekanikku tilted her head to the side and crouched so that she could look at Iris without having to look down at her.

"Why not?" Mekanikku asked.

"Protoman's secretive," Iris explained quickly. "I don't think he'd want anyone to know how us reploids survived."

"What about Bass? Can I know about him?" Mekanikku asked, barely leaving time for Iris to finish.

"I don't know," Iris said, looking away from Mekanikku's inquiring gaze and typing something on the computer. "You'd have to ask Protoman. He's the leader. I can't do anything without his approval." Mekanikku nodded and straightened.

"All right. I understand," Mekanikku said. She pointed to a particular spot on the map of the roof and said, "If you need me, I'll be right there."

"Okay," Iris said, putting on a headset. "I'll let anyone who asks know."

"Thank you," Mekanikku said as she left the room.

The cold steel pathway to the elevator was dimly lit by small lights in the ceiling and it rang quietly with each step that Mekanikku took. The elevator itself was a simple steel frame suspended by large cables with a few controls on the outside wall for getting to each floor. Mekanikku pressed the button for the top floor and stepped inside the elevator. The elevator rose through the shaft, lacking a door to close it off, using the interior of the walls to eliminate the chance of falling out.

Mekanikku looked down at the clock in her hand and nodded. The dream that she had that night was common to her. It appeared every other week or so, often disrupting her sleep. Those nights were often spent thinking about what had happened to the company. Nothing seemed to make sense except a case of robbery and slander. Most likely an operation done from the inside of the company.

She stepped out into the open and climbed up part of the roof that was diagonally slanted. She stopped and almost grinned.

"You're awake too?" Samui asked from a small steel box he was sitting on with his legs close up to him. "It's a little early to be up and about."

"Same could be said about you," Mekanikku said, smiling as she climbed onto the box. "What're you doing up here?" Samui chuckled and shook his head.

"I normally don't sleep," he said, his face saddening slightly. He sighed and continued, "I wish I could tell you everything, Mekanikku."

"Why don't you?" Mekanikku asked, half-teasingly. "After all, I _**have**_started complying with what you wanted, right?"

"It's a lot more complicated than that," Samui said while grimacing. "A lot of the information is dark and meant to be kept in the shadows. Technically, I shouldn't be teaching you anything unless I decided to adopt you into my clan."

Mekanikku shrugged. "Why don't you?"

"That's part of the reason why I'm up here," Samui said, his face resuming its normal concentrated stare as he watched the moon. "You've picked up quickly on what I've told you to do and you have your own tricks, but there's more consequences than you realize."

"Try me," Mekanikku said as she adjusted her position on the cold steel box, smiling playfully at him. She quickly frowned and winced once Samui groaned.

"It's not that simple!" Samui insisted, an edge coming into his tone. "There's lots of things at stake..." He groaned again and buried his head in his hands. "Why did I even bring you into this?"

"I'm..." Mekanikku began, hesitating slightly. "Still confused." Samui sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Remember how I told you about Ninjutsu? How it's powerful?" Samui asked quickly. Mekanikku nodded, confused. "That's because it's more than just a technique. It's an actual being of Shadow."

"What?" Mekanikku said, looking doubtfully at him.

"I know it sounds crazy, but that's what it is," Samui quickly said, his voice becoming frustrated.

Mekanikku sighed and looked down at her legs as they dangled over the edge of the box. _What does he not want me to know?_ she thought. _An actual being? Of shadow?_

"Shadow," Samui repeated, startling Mekanikku out of her thoughts. "Not as a description, but a noun."

"H-how did you...?" Mekanikku asked, her eyes wide with fear. _He can even read minds?_

His head bowed and he looked away, shame seeming to cover him. "Ninjutsu knows the blackest memories, no matter how forgotten or how pushed away they are. It's a useful trait, but it borders the Dark Overdrive since it is a very intrusive power only known to those who master Ninjutsu."

"Then why'd you use it?" she asked.

"It's instinctual," Samui replied, flexing his left hand slightly. "I'm naturally curious. Once I knew about this power, I naturally used it a lot." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Little did I know, but it was eating away my soul. The path of Ninjutsu is powerful, but corrupting. Power can corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"You've taken schooling?" Mekanikku asked, tilting her head ever so slightly. "My political science teacher said that."

"No," Samui said, shaking his head. "At least, not as far as you have, probably. I learned the basics of English, reading, writing, and refined and picked up other things along the way. My focus was Ninjutsu. Always has been."

Mekanikku nodded, turning her gaze back over the city.

Everything was quiet for now. Bass normally didn't make outright confrontations anymore, with the exception of attacking Darkman and her just two days ago. He used to do it in the past, but he stopped for some reason. It used to be a relief, but now it worried Mekanikku. Maybe he was formulating a plan or merely buying time for his Robot Masters to evolve more? Either option was scary.

"Sometimes I worry," Samui muttered under his breath, barely perceptible to Mekanikku's ears.

"Hmm?" Mekanikku said. "What? About what?"

"About Ninjutsu," Samui said, his voice still quiet, but not muttering anymore. "I know it's a being and must have some sort of power over the earth. I used to believe that it only affected those who went under its rule." He shook his head as Mekanikku looked at him questioningly. "Now that I've seen what it's done to you, I know I'm wrong."

"Wait, not being able to have power over the earth?" Mekanikku asked, confused by what he meant about being wrong. Samui nodded.

"When I joined Ninjutsu, I was required to make a clan symbol before I could progress in Ninjutsu."

"How come?" Mekanikku asked, but she already knew why. It was the creature. The only thing she did not understand was what exactly the Ninjutsu _was_.

Samui stayed quiet, not answering her question. He seemed to be deep in thought, so Mekanikku waited anxiously for his answer, a soft breeze shifting her hair around. "Well?" she asked.

"Protoman has an assignment for you today," Samui stated abruptly. "We better go down and meet him."

Mekanikku watched him with an inquisitive look and shook her head slowly. He was obviously trying to hide something. It only served to make chills run through her spine. She shivered. Samui watched her sympathetically and gently wrapped his ninja mask around her shoulders.

"We should go," he said, positioning his legs to stand up.

"Please, Samui?" Mekanikku pleaded. "I need to know."

Samui hesitated, but finally shook his head. He stood up and offered his hand to Mekanikku which she accepted.

"Someday," Samui said, helping her up.

"When?" Mekanikku asked. "Soon?"

There was barely a trace of pain in his face for a moment, quickly disappearing into a concerned expression. Mekanikku shifted her weight from one leg to the other uneasily, adjusting her belt. Whatever it was he didn't want her to know, it was obviously bad. It'd have to wait though. It was best to stay on this different side of Samui that she had found. He seemed a lot more concerned over her than usual. The only thing that was disturbing about it was the suddenness of the change. He wouldn't even smile for a while in the beginning. Now he seemed to be concerned about her...

_All in one day._

Nothing about him even made sense anymore, – the change, the revelations that he had revealed to her– it was like a fairy tale. _No one can change that fast, _Mekanikku insisted in her mind.

Samui jumped down from the box and turned around, looking up at Mekanikku.

"Do you want help?" he asked.

"No, I'll be fine," Mekanikku said as she leapt down. She quickly recovered from her landing and adjusted her mechanic's pack. "I'm better than most girls." She blushed. It sounded so _stupid_ now that she had said it. "Well, um, I mean..."

"It's fine, Mekanikku," Samui said, smiling ever so slightly as he waved it off. He turned and gently started to lead her towards the elevator was, – or should've been – which Mekanikku just noticed had disappeared from sight. She waited next to the spot where the elevator should've been as Samui contacted Iris through his headset.

As they waited, Mekanikku looked around at the rooftop. It seemed to be built haphazardly, without any designing in mind as to where it should slant and where it should end.

"Oh." Protoman's voice came from the elevator as it raised into view. "I've been looking for you."

"Sorry," Mekanikku said, scratching the back of her head. "I like to get up early. Five o'clock at the most."

"Don't worry about it. Iris told me where you were. Now if you had left without telling anyone, that's when I would've worried."

"Okay." Mekanikku looked around, frightened slightly. _Was there something calling my name?_ The sound of the voice had chilled her because of its dark tone. What creeped her out even more was that there was nothing there.

_Mekanikku!_

She spun around quickly, startling Protoman and Samui.

"You okay, Mekanikku?" Protoman asked. "You seem a little jumpy."

"Huh?" Mekanikku said, turning back around quickly. Did they not hear it? Was this... thing – only hearable to her? "Um, yeah... I'm okay," she said as she tapped her submachine gun.

There was something out there. Something trying to get her attention. It felt too real to be a figment. There was a presence there and a voice, although the presence couldn't be seen. It was difficult to picture in her mind, but, judging from the voice, she could only see a creature draped in black clothing. Was it another ninja? Most likely not. Samui was probably the only _real_ ninja out there.

Then it struck her.

Anaribi was his sister and he mentioned teaching her... Could she be following them again? She shoved the thought away. It was unlikely. Mostly because Mekanikku assumed that Anaribi would've attacked them by now, and the voice didn't seem to fit Anaribi's voice. It was much more masculine and was rasped slightly.

"You don't look okay," Protoman stated. Mekanikku jumped and barely resisted the instinctive urge to pick up the submachine gun and point it. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No. No, I'm okay," Mekanikku insisted, shoving the entire feeling away.

"Don't strain yourself, Mekanikku," Protoman said as he turned around and walked the few steps into the elevator. "Press the down button on your way in." Mekanikku looked around the place for one of the elevator controls. Either it was too dark, or there weren't any controls up here.

"I'm not seeing them," Mekanikku said.

"Oh... Yeah, they're underneath the ground," Protoman said, stepping back out of the elevator. "I might as well show you now." He crouched next to the elevator's position and ran his fingers around a particular area for a few seconds. Finally, he dug his fingers into the area and pried up a small plate with a few buttons underneath it. "Make sure to securely fasten the plate down once you press a button," Protoman said, pushing a button as he spoke.

He quickly jammed the plate back on and ran into the elevator, Mekanikku and Samui quickly picking it up and running in with him.

"So what's my mission?" Mekanikku asked as they made the descent down the building. Protoman shook his head slowly and chuckled.

"It's kinda funny in a way," he said quietly. "You know that building that we thought was attacked by Bass?" Mekanikku nodded slowly and uncertainly. "We think it was done from the inside."

"You mean a police officer did it?" Mekanikku asked. Her stomach twisted once Protoman nodded. "But why?"

Protoman shrugged. "We don't know. That's why we're sending you to find out."

"But why me?" Mekanikku asked as the elevator slowed down. "I'm a fighter, not a detective."

"It'll be a good experience," Protoman said, stepping out the door of the elevator. "Don't worry, one of our operatives will be there to help you."

"Who?" Mekanikku asked as she and Samui walked out into the darkened hallway that was untouched by the rising sun's rays.

"For one, Darkman," Protoman said. "And the other is someone named Shanai Roc. However, he's..." Protoman tilted his head back and forth for a brief moment. "A mercenary."

_Great... Just what we always needed..._ Mekanikku thought. Mercenaries seemed to be a thing of the past, only to be used in Colonial times and before then. They were normally not used among the civilized countries in modern warfare. Apparently they were making a comeback.

She mentally shrugged to herself. It was probably more like gang warfare anyway, not like an actual war. That made more sense. Still though, she didn't trust mercenaries. You never knew when they'd turn against you, just because they got paid by someone else a heftier amount than the former employer.

Casually, Samui nudged her in the ribs. She quickly pushed his arm away and glared at him. Instead of getting angry himself, he merely raised an eyebrow at her that seemed to remind her to obey orders without disputation. She sighed as they moved into the only heavily lighted place, and that was the place where Protoman kept all of the vehicles for transportation around the city. Some of the vehicles were even taken apart, so it'd probably be fine to call it "the garage".

"We're not doing the mission _now_, are we?" Mekanikku asked as they entered.

"Not _now_," Protoman said cooly. "But soon. I'm unaccustomed to taking care of humans, but I sent one of our undercover agents to get some food."

A thought jumped to Mekanikku's mind and she rammed her words together as she said, "How did you live?" Although he had his helmet concealing most of his face, the slight deceleration in Protoman's pace informed her that he was not pleased with the question. "Maybe later?"

"Never," Protoman said, picking up his usual pace.

"What's wrong with me knowing?" Mekanikku asked, although with a slight sharpness in her tone.

"Too much information," Protoman said, waving her off, his speed increasing even more.

"But–," Mekanikku began. The firm grip on her shoulder made her instantly stop and bow her head. "Don't you get tired of not knowing things?" she groaned.

"Mmm, no," Samui replied. "That's because I know almost everything about this base and how it works and how Protoman and everyone managed to stay alive."

A faint glimmer shone in Mekanikku's eyes as she twisted her neck to look at Samui, although from a side-long view.

"Tell me?" she asked. As he shook his head again, she bowed her head, disappointed. It seemed like everyone knew what was going on except her. _It makes sense... I guess,_ she admitted to herself. _I've only been here for... what, a day and a half?_

"Samui, follow me!" Protoman called out.

"Sorry," Samui said before quickly catching up to Protoman, fading away into another corridor.

She watched him go with her hand closed loosely on itself, almost touching her chest with it. The feelings of bitterness towards Samui rose back to the top and she found herself muttering curses at him.

"Easy there..." a calm voice said from behind her that chilled her. "No need to get angry, little girl."

"I am NOT a little girl!" she snapped, spinning around to face the voice while dropping into a semi-offensive, partially defensive stance. Her blood quickly chilled.

His height wasn't what scared her. She was fairly tall, though this guy was about one head and a half taller than her. His attire was what scared her. It was composed of contrasts, black and white for the most part. His black cloak concealed most of his facial features. There was a golden imprint on the edge of the hood that looked like two blades, one within the other, with two curved blades extending from it. He wore black pants made of a material not too far from soft jeans. They seemed to be made of the same material as Mekanikku's brown shorts, but she had never bothered to check what they were made of. Then, he wore a plain white shirt underneath the cloak. Only a brown belt around his waist broke the monotony of the colors.

The stranger chuckled, irritating Mekanikku again, but there was fear inside of her as well. Everything about him seemed... dark, hidden, mysterious, and threatening.

"Yes, yes, nice to meet you too," he said, walking closer to her. She seemed to be frozen in place, unable to move. He reached out his hand and she closed her eyes, not sure what else to do since her limbs weren't functioning.

It was slightly surprising to feel him rubbing her head, but mostly irritating. She stood up straight as he passed by and took off her cap, straightening out her hair as she threw a glare over her shoulder at him. So much for his first impression on her. This was probably the mercenary that Protoman was talking about.

"Are you.."

The man, roughly about nineteen years old from what she could see of his face, stopped and held up his hand, motioning for her to stop. "Yes, I'm the mercenary."

"How did you..." she started.

"Know?" the man interrupted again. "A lot of people ask me that question and it always begins with 'Are you'. Now, when you have some questions that are different, let me know." He then continued his walk down the corridor that Protoman and Samui went down.

She would've asked him more questions, but she was too frustrated at the moment. Her first impression of him wasn't a good one and then he didn't care if he interrupted her.

_Jerk..._ she thought vehemently, anger searing her mind. So this guy was the person she had to work with? She groaned and covered her face with her hand. It was going to be a long day.

Wait... when did the mission start?

She looked around for the guy, but he wasn't anywhere. He had just disappeared down the hall. Did that mean that it wasn't time for the mission yet? Or is he a procrastinator? It didn't really matter. Her gun needed to be modified anyway.

She pulled her shotgun off of her back and placed her pouch on the ground beside her. She started taking the shotgun apart, knowing exactly how to form the essential parts of it. She had done modifications on it so many times that she could probably build one with her eyes closed.

"Maybe it should be more like a rifle this time?" she said. "What type of ammunition should it use?" Her voice faded away into a mutter as she reached down into her bag, forming a vocal picture of the gun.

She meticulously picked out certain parts and fitted them around the essential parts of the gun, giving each part a plastic or metal casing, depending on what part she attached. The butt of the rifle was covered with plastic since it'd provide more of a shock absorber when she fired. But, for the most part, it was composed of metal.

She paused. Where was that guy? In fact, where was Darkman?


	8. Anaribi

It was another cold morning. Just like most of the others. There was plenty of money in her pocket from doing the work she did, but she didn't care to spend it. She needed little in this life... if she could even call it that.

Her suit of armor kept her warm for the most part, but she occasionally walked around on the skyscraper to keep her toes warm. The high altitude wasn't helping, but it wasn't terribly detrimental.

The effects of Ninjutsu were always on her. It was just very light at times. It only grew heavy when he was around. It was helpful, in a way. Then she always knew that he was close by._ Dang you, Samui,_ she cursed. It was all his fault. He had to introduce her to Ninjutsu, making her the machine she was.

Now she was reduced little more to a fighter. Her social life was non-existent. It hadn't even risen far above the ground before he introduced her to Ninjutsu. It used to be a fun game back then. Then she understood what it was. It had turned her life into an abyss where only pain was known. Yet, it had brought so much satisfaction.

She grabbed her helmet and pulled it off, revealing a youthful face with blond hair tied into a ponytail in the back. A black cloth covered her eyes. She didn't understand why she could see through it, but she didn't argue. Light from the sun, which was slowly creeping over the horizon, hurt her eyes. She never understood why. It had come in small increments until she required sunglasses. Eventually, not even sunglasses worked and she had found herself using a thick cloth. It was fascinating, in a way. She could see through it as though she was using her own eyes without the cloth.

The cool air of the morning washed over her and she breathed it in deeply, closing her eyes to savor it. Yes. This is what it felt like to be alive. If only she didn't need to remind herself of that everyday.

"Still thinking that way?"

Anaribi dismissed the voice. It bothered her every time she took off her helmet. As such, she had grown familiar with it. She despised it, but it was like a comforter all the same. She could talk to it somewhat and it'd talk back, just like two friends having a conversation. The only thing that kept them apart was this voice was the very thing controlling her.

"I expect you to answer me. I can't hold a conversation by myself."

Not only that, its voice was too raspy for her tastes. It was almost as if Ninjutsu was trying to exhale and yell at the same time, yet keep its voice down.

"You know why I don't talk to you," Anaribi said, keeping her eyes on the horizon.

"Yet you do."

She glared over her shoulder at the dark silhouette standing behind her and to the side. It was the form that Ninjutsu normally took when he wasn't trying to trick people into following him. For now, he was just keeping an eye on her. He wasn't omnipresent. She had that much to thank for. Sometimes he left her alone to do her own will, but when that happened, she normally just sat in one place or just moved from building to building, keeping out of sight.

She sighed. Sometimes her life was just so useless.

Her eyes caught on a small figure moving quickly through the crowd. Anaribi squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look at the figure. Whoever it was, it had someone trailing it.

"Stay here," she commanded Ninjutsu. Not that it would do what she said, but it was a natural reaction.

She flung herself over the edge of the building, the air whipping around her and pulling on her ponytail. As she plummeted, she donned her helmet and threw her boosters into a quick burst that threw her forwards towards the stranger.

Fingers pointed at Anaribi as she flew overhead and she was glad that she had her helmet on. Secrecy was her friend, though she had partially given it away. She paused in her thoughts while throwing the boosters full blast again. _Not that I haven't given myself away after last night's ordeal._

The figure was clearly female now, wearing a brown jacket, shorts, and...

_Oh._

Anaribi was close enough to the ground now and she dropped her booster power. She rolled on the ground, springing into a quick sprint. Mekanikku was the last person she wanted to help. The last thing she would _ever_ do would be to help her.

She ducked into a nearby alley, disregarding the stares from the crowd.

Why she hated Mekanikku, she herself did not know. Was it because she sacrificed her own liberty and yet Mekanikku could remain free? She shook her head.

That wasn't it. But if that wasn't, what was?

She sighed and climbed to the top of another building.

"You know that you don't like anyone," another voice said. It wasn't Ninjutsu, but it was just as familiar.

Anaribi shook her head. "Not true."

"Maybe, but I know that you don't like anyone that Samui takes under his wing. You've always hated that. He's weak to those of the female gender that weren't family. Always has been. Is this not true?"

Anaribi gritted her teeth and shut her eyes against the truth. Yes. Samui was always weak.

That's why she hated Mekanikku. Mekanikku had replaced her.

"I am right." Anaribi's eyes snapped open and she spun around.

Only buildings and streets greeted her eyes. Anaribi let out a long sigh, tired of the always-sudden disappearances of this man. He was older than she was. Even older than Samui. He _was_ their brother.

But not anymore.

He was exiled. A lone ninja, much like Anaribi herself was. Betrayed by the Ninjutsu, just like she was. Left as a shell of what he used to be.

Just like she was.

There was no forgiving Samui. Not until he was dead in her fingers. She would have given everything, just to have that opportunity.

_Dang family ties,_ Anaribi thought.


	9. Investigating

"You two are really slow," the mercenary noted as Darkman and Mekanikku trudged after him. Mekanikku was coughing and trying to pull air into her lungs while Darkman was just tired. His mechanical muscles hadn't been used for so long that they'd have to be lubricated.

Mekanikku frowned. Darkman kept his face blank. It was somewhat surprising how he and Protoman tended to practice keeping their emotions at a minimum. It was almost humorous at the same time. After all, he had posed as Protoman back in the day.

"Doing okay, Mekanikku?" he asked. She had been bent down and now gasped, her hands on her knees. She looked up at him and nodded, smiling slightly. He nodded and looked towards the unknown mercenary.

He never had given them a name. Not that it really mattered. He always knew when they were addressing him.

"Well, whoever it was, they certainly made a mess of it," the mercenary observed as he looked over the twisted metal and shattered concrete that once formed the police station. He stepped forward, shattered glass cracking underneath his heavy-toed boots. "Sift through it. Tell me if you find anything unnatural."

Darkman walked into the very center of the rubble, planning on working from the inside out. He pulled metal parts out and dug deeper. Some parts were more difficult to pull out of the wreckage since they were embedded in the concrete. Mekanikku was walking over to the part where the rubble was broken into smaller pieces.

Darkman couldn't help but think to himself. _Oh humans. So weak,_ he thought, grinning as he heaved a large, twisted metal piece out of his hole of junk.

As he dug deeper, the rubble started to become smaller and smaller. Darkman was glad about this. Even though he was that thing called a reploid, a term he still struggled with, he needed repairs to bring him to optimal capacity. He dug through the pile, each finger hurting from grabbing the jagged edges of the metal and concrete. He picked up a piece of rubble that was black. Not black as if it had been charred, but as if there was something inscribed.

"Darkman! I think I found something!"

Darkman pulled his way back up the hole, cutting himself slightly. He walked calmly over the rugged terrain until he reached Mekanikku. She held up another piece of rubble, similar to what he himself had picked up, although hers was more detailed. What she had seemed more like it had a symbol inscribed on it.

Darkman nodded. "I found something similar to that too." Mekanikku raised an eyebrow and held out her hand.

"Can I see it?" she asked. Darkman put it in her hand, having a vague idea of what she was trying to do. She held each piece side-by-side, orienting one around the other. Finally, she stopped and put them together. The edges didn't match, but the symbols...

"Looks kinda like a quarter of a beetle," Darkman noted.

"Why would they have a beetle inscription in a police station?" Mekanikku asked.

"My guess is," the mercenary walked up calmly to them and threw another piece down at their feet, "they didn't. Have you paid any attention to the pieces at all?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Mekanikku looked around the pieces. She couldn't see it, but now that Darkman knew that there was something else supposed to be there, he looked for what should be hidden.

"Wiring," Darkman said. The mercenary nodded.

Of course, they had already known that the building had been blown up by bombs, but having a piece of the bomb led them one step closer to finding out who blew it up. Fingerprints were a possibility. If nothing showed up, it'd either mean that their enemy was careful, or that it was a reploid. Mekanikku shook her head.

"What's up?" Darkman asked. Mekanikku shrugged.

"Just annoying how reploids don't have some sort of fingerprint." Ah, so she was thinking about it too.

Mekanikku picked up the piece that the mercenary had thrown down at their feet and arranged it around the other two pieces. It didn't fit, but seemed like the core of the entire piece was missing.

"We can't work on stuff like this. We need more," Darkman said quickly. He took a step towards his hole. "Wherever you found those pieces, hopefully there'll be more like them in a close perimeter."

"But shouldn't we just let the police handle this now? After all, we found pieces that might have been touched by whoever did this," Mekanikku said. Darkman shrugged and jumped into his hole. He barely heard Mekanikku sigh and chuckled to himself.

Darkman began to tear at the sides of his hole, working from the top down. He pulled out piece by piece, noticing Mekanikku pull herself out of her own small hole frequently. He frowned and stopped his work. She _was_ human and wasn't made for this type of work. Normally they used power machines to get their work done, unlike robots who could do it themselves.

Finally, Mekanikku sat down on her pile of small, comparative to Darkman's, pieces of rubble. She was nursing her hands with some thin gauze that she had.

Why had Protoman brought her here?

He paused, thinking once more. Unless there was something easier about this case than any of them thought? No, that was impossible. Protoman wouldn't have known... and yet... Darkman couldn't help but feel curious.

He pulled himself back out of the hole and looked over the few pieces that they had found. It was a beetle, but it seemed familiar. It wasn't just _any_ beetle.

Another piece dropped down and Darkman jumped. He looked up at the mercenary, who stood looking down at him with an uncaring gaze, then back at the pieces. Yes, the symbol was almost complete. ... Enough to become almost familiar, at least.

"Mekanikku? Have you found anything?"

Mekanikku looked up from her wounds and shook her head. She wasn't used to work that was more suited to blue-collar workers. That much was easily noticeable from the tear stains on her cheeks. It was almost the same sight that he had seen when he saw her for the second time. That time when she had been part of Bass's gang of thugs attacking him in the alley. She was pleading with him not to kill her.

The two sights were different, but it showed how soft she was.

Darkman walked over to her hole quietly and began digging large chunks out. Mekanikku actually hadn't gone that far down. She had barely broken the surface, and yet...

Darkman rubbed his chin. She had still found a part of the symbol. The rubble around him was small, oddly enough. The hole that she dug out must've only had light rubble. Was another piece close by?

"Mekanikku, do you think you could spare a little more strength? I've got a hunch that we're close to another piece," Darkman said. Mekanikku muttered something that even Darkman's enhanced ears couldn't pick up. "You'll have to speak louder than that."

"_I... can't!"_ Mekanikku yelled, getting up from her impromptu seat. "_What do you think I am, some sort of reploid? No! I'm _human_, Darkman!_"

Darkman took a step back, startled at Mekanikku's outburst. This was a side he hadn't seen nor thought he'd see.

Mekanikku breathed heavily for a moment, then sighed and relaxed her tense muscles. "Sorry... I... shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"_Get to work you idiots!"_ the mercenary snapped from behind Darkman, forcing him into jumping forwards to Mekanikku's side. "_Excavating doesn't happen by itself! This isn't a place to feel sorry! Just suck it up and get to work!_"

Mekanikku and Darkman exchanged surprised glances. They remained silent while the mercenary began picking through his own pile.

"Looks like you're not the only one with anger issues," Darkman said. Mekanikku laughed lightly, rubbing the back of her head. She shuffled her foot for a second.

"Guess we should do as he says?"

"Probably. He's mad enough." Always a good reason to do something, in Darkman's mind. Was that why he had followed Dr. Wily? He had actually been one of the more independent robots of the Megaman days, yet he still followed Dr. Wily. Was he intimidated by Dr. Wily and his army of robots? Maybe.

Idiots. All of them. They wouldn't be able to find out who had done the deed. At least, not without help. Of course, he wasn't going to provide them with it. As much as he hated Samui, he wanted to kill him himself, not have some sort of weakling _try_ to kill Samui. Samui was too good to let himself get killed. Not by the likes of them.

The view, though he was high above, was excellent. Ninjutsu was a wonderful thing. It let him focus his concentration and his vision, although the increased focus in vision could make his eyes hurt if he used it for a long time.

But there was no time to watch them. Even if they found out about Samui's symbol, it was nothing to worry about. They would never find out...

Except for the girl. He had always had a soft spot for girls. He might tell her. If there was anything about Samui, it was that he was weak to those of the opposite gender. Especially if they were crying.

No matter. Whatever happened, happened. It was no concern of his. Just as long as he could execute Samui himself, everything would balance out.


End file.
